La Ferté-sous-Jouarre

La Ferté-sous-Jouarre (la fɛʁte su ʒwaʁ) is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne département in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located at a crossing point over the river Marne between Meaux and Château-Thierry. This area of France has frequently been a site of warfare. In 1819, British naval officer, Norwich Duff (1792–1862), Edinburgh born, recorded a note on La Ferté. The Bourbon Restoration had apparently dampened the Napoleonic road building boom, as evidenced by unused milestones. Construction projects had rebuilt some facilities destroyed in the wars with Britain and other Powers. La Ferté is famous for millstones used for milling flour. Some have even been found in England. left Meaux a little before seven and, after passing through a fine country for five leagues, arrived at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, a neat little town on the banks of the rivers Marne and Morin, where we breakfasted. This town supplies the greatest part of France with mile stones, which are considered the finest in Europe. The banks of the river and each side of the road were covered with them as we passed...The road from La Ferté to Château-Thierry (seven leagues) is very hilly but the scenery very fine. [We] passed three bridges over the Marne now rebuilt that were blown up on the advance of the Allies in 1813. [1814] Among notable residents, the artist Émile Bayard was born in this town (1837). The Irish avant-garde writer, dramatist, poet and nobel prize winner Samuel Beckett lived in the neighboring hamlet of Mollien for 36 years. The town's library and secondary school are named after him. André the Giant, three times Worldwide Wrestling champion, icon of the André the Giant Has a Posse (aka Obey) street art project grew up in the local canton. As a child, the American writer and filmmaker Oliver Stone used to spend all his summer holiday at his French maternal grands-parents' hotel in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre. The area was invaded and occupied by the Germans from the beginning of the Great War, which led to considerable damage and casualties.