History

Fonds-Saint-Denis is a small town in Martinique located inland in the north of the island. It is certainly one of the municipalities on the island with the most neighboring municipalities. Judge rather, to the north it is bordered by Saint-Pierre, Le Morne-Rouge, to the east by Le Marigot, Le Gros Morne and Saint-Joseph, to the south by Fort-de-France, Schoelcher, to the east by Le Carbet and Morne-Vert!

Fonds-Saint-Denis was originally a district of Saint Pierre. It is on the lands of the current Fonds Saint Denis that the first windmill in Martinique was installed.

On February 17, 1845, Abbot Goux then parish priest of Carbet consecrated an oratory under the name of Saint Denis. From 1854, the much larger oratory then obtained its own parish priest, a named Abbé Clausade in 1861. On his death, 8 years later, a few abbots succeeded him until the erection of a parish in common by the law of March 14, 1888.

The town hall was founded and the first mayor was then Jean-Marie Emmanuel de Rozan who would remain the mayor of the town until 1892. Pierre Pastour succeeded him until 1907. At the time of the change of century, the town had nearly 1,500 inhabitants is more than today (813)!

In 1902, Odilon Darsières then owner of Habitation Chabert, his country residence witnessed the eruption of Mount Pelée. Many inhabitants fled Fonds-Saint-Denis following the second eruption of August 30, 1902. They found refuge with Fort-de-France in the localities of the Médaille, Tivoli and Colson. They had chosen these less populated districts and close to their commune of origin. They have difficulty building living quarters there despite the lack of means and the sadness of having to give up all their personal belongings.

After the eruption of Mount Pelée, Fonds Saint Denis has never regained its previous number of inhabitants. It remained behind Saint-Pierre and Carbet.

Fonds Saint Denis is certainly the most flowery town on the island.

Economy

Along with tourism, tropical agriculture is the main activity of Fonds Saint Denis with plantations full of birds (cicis, blackbirds, hummingbirds ...), where we find in turn:

Neighborhoods

The municipality's main districts are Beauséjour, Dorzon, la Croix, la Ferrey, Mannavit, Mont Béni and Saint James.

List of places to visit in the municipality

Rivers

The cascade of "saut gendarme" owes its name to the stop for refreshment and to drink the amount policeman horses in Saint Pierre or the fall of a policeman.