“The History and Legends of Le Lavandou: Celebrating 110 Years of Autonomy”

From May 25, 1913, the history books mainly remember the great demonstration organized in Paris by Jean Jaurès to protest (in vain) against President Poincarré’s plan to extend military service from 2 to 3 years.

On our shores, what makes the news is yet another text signed by Raymond Poincarré.

That day, at the Elysée, he signed the law creating the commune of Lavandou.

An event for the approximately 800 inhabitants (including 150 fishermen) of the hamlet of Bormes at the time.

1. Before 1913, it was a hamlet of Bormes

TRUE.

Before its “independence”, Le Lavandou was only a hamlet of Bormes. A district weighing a third of the town and facing the sea and fishing, while the perched village is interested in land and agriculture.

Built in 1880, the fishing port is the most famous in the Var. According to the history books, boosted by Italian immigrants and economic activity (which is beginning to see tourism take on weight), demography is flourishing there… Unlike that of Bormes.

Result: the idea of ​​emancipation progresses and the district claims its autonomy, against a backdrop of rivalry (already) between neighbors. Historians have unearthed a prefectural letter from 1882, the first solid trace of what was to be adopted in August 1907 by the municipal council of Bormes.

In favor of separation, the Council of State adopted the bill on February 20, 1913. It was then passed on March 27 by the Chamber of Deputies and adopted by the Senate on May 20.

Last step, the President of the Republic Raymond Poincaré promulgated the creation of the town on May 25, 1913.

2. A name taken from the lavender fields

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Faux.

Associating the delicate Provençal scent of lavender with the name of the seaside resort is a misinterpretation in which many willingly engage.

The neighborhood of Bormes-les-Mimosas no doubt encourages them. The flower, however, has nothing to do with the root of the name of the town.

Specialists indeed agree in concluding that Le Lavandou takes its name from “lavoir”. A washhouse where fishermen’s wives washed their clothes on large flat stones.

3. A saint passed by

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TRUE.

A grain of truth and a pinch of legend… The passage of Saint François de Paule through Le Lavandou is in any case part of the history of the town. She proudly exhibited a trace of it… until it was buried under asphalt during work on the seafront in the middle of the 20th century.

Today, at the foot of the “castle”, there is a replica (our photo) which evokes this episode, ensuring that in 1481, Saint-François de Paule, hermit in Palermo, would have landed at Le Lavandou when he was called to the bedside of Louis XI.

The rock where he dismounted would have retained the imprint of his footsteps and his pilgrim’s staff.

4. Dolphins have always been adored here

Faux.

If the caudal fins of cetaceans are today part of the imagery of the town and adorn roundabouts and letterheads (the Lavandou coat of arms was created in 1950 by the mayor at the time, Marius Dorie, and enriched with a tail whale during the creation of the Pelagos sanctuary), relations between marine mammals and Lavandourains have not always been tender.

The fishermen indeed reproached the porpoises for destroying their nets and waged a fierce war against them.

5. The “castle” from the Middle Ages

Faux.

It is called “the castle” but the imposing building which dominates the seafront of the city center is obviously not feudal.

Its construction dates back to the end of the 19th century and is the result of the will of a herbalist from Toulon who often embarked from Le Lavandou for Port-Cros in search of medicinal plants. Specialists note that the style was inspired by that fashionable at the time on the shores of Lake Garda.

In the 20th century, the building successively became a boarding house, the residence of nuns, then the headquarters of various municipal services.