Tour of the village of Rougemont-le-Château

Park in the car park on Allée Gaston et Victor Erhard in Rougemont-le-Château.

(S/E) Head towards the main road to the east, Avenue Jean Moulin. Turn right and follow the avenue southwards.

(1) Turn right at the first junction and follow Chemin du Mont Marty. It is signposted with a lovely sign. The tarmac gives way to a pretty path. After 50 m, at the junction, continue to the right. This route follows a botanical discovery trail. Look out for several signs identifying notable trees: red oak, elm, chestnut. Behind the hedge, admire Château Erhrard.

(2) Continue along the path. At the next junction, turn right onto the forest road and continue to the D2.

(3) Turn right onto Rue d’Etueffont and, after about 50 metres, take the^second path on the left. After the houses, the path enters the forest and climbs steeply. Look out for the Étangs des Soldats on the right, with a lovely treehouse perched in the trees. At the end of the climb, at the crossroads, turn right and head back down towards the tarmac road.

(4) Turn right and follow the road for 300 m, running alongside a lovely estate with horses.

(5) Turn left onto the D51, taking care with the traffic. This is a main road. 100 m further on, turn right onto the track and immediately afterwards, turn right onto the path that climbs. Keep a close eye on the signposting on this section as the path crosses paths and plot boundaries.

(6) Turn right just before a stream, cross it and turn left immediately afterwards. The signposting is very helpful. Cross two forest tracks and, after a bend to the right, head downhill alongside the stream below. Pass between two fences marking the property boundary, go down the steps and arrive in the town of Rougemont-le-Château. Admire the church built of Vosges sandstone.

(7) Arrive at Place du Général de Gaulle, turn right, proceed to the pedestrian crossing to cross carefully, then turn left onto Avenue Jean Moulin towards Leval Romagny. After 50 m, turn right onto a pleasant little path. Cross the River Saint-Nicolas and turn left to return to the starting point (S/E).

A walk suitable for the whole family. It is of moderate difficulty as there are a few steep climbs.

Erhard Castle
History
In 1845, Victor Erhard began building a mechanical weaving mill with 200 looms on land he had just purchased. The looms were to be powered by a water wheel. From 1847, however, he used a steam engine as an auxiliary power source for the wheel. Since 1859, the weaving mill has been supplied by a spinning mill built by the company in Masevaux (68).
The owner’s residence, built of cut stone and rendered sandstone rubble, comprises a basement, a ground floor, a square first floor and an attic floor, with a roof featuring long broken gables, a hipped roof and a half-hipped roof, as well as a pavilion roof, all covered in slate.

The Erhard cotton weaving mill became the Manufacture de Rougemont, then the Filiac small-scale metalworking factory
Source: Heritage in Burgundy-Franche-Comté

Rougemont-le-Château
Toponymy: Rubeo Monte (1105/1234), Rotinberc (1278), Roigemont (1295/1309), Rotenburg (1337), Rotenberg (1366), Rottenbergk mit dem ganzen Rottenbergerthal (1579), Rougemont (1793), Rougemont-le-Château (1893). In German: Rothenberg or Rothenburg

The village is situated at the foot of the Southern Vosges, at the junction of two ancient Roman roads, one of which linked Langres to Strasbourg along the Vosges massif, and the other came from Belfort after passing through Offemont.
Late 10th century: construction by Count Frédéric II de Ferrette of the fortified castle situated on a rocky outcrop (Montagne des Boules, 736 m above sea level) overlooking the village. Given its small size, it could only accommodate a dozen people. The castle was destroyed in 1375 by the forces of Enguerrand de Coucy. The significant archaeological finds of a military, civil and religious nature uncovered during the excavations are housed in the Belfort Museum.

1913: Rougemont was linked to Belfort by a local railway. This metre-gauge line, which joined the Belfort–Sentheim line (Haut-Rhin) at the Errues junction, played a vital role during the 1914–1918 conflict.
Source: Wikipedia

Saint-Pierre Church
Built between 1853 and 1868 using pink Vosges sandstone from the quarries at Romagny, Leval and Offemont.