Val d'Or Mill

This cattle mill bears witness to the past of the island's sugar plantations. Located on the Habitation Val d'Or in Sainte Anne, dating from 1770, it is one of the largest of its kind in the entire Caribbean. In any case, it is the only multi-storey mill of this size whose reconstruction was carried out in the same way (from 2009), under the direction of Etienne Poncelet, chief architect of the Historic Monuments.
We can now admire this remarkable restoration work according to the rules of the art: the walls carved on buttresses and pillars, the roof made of wapa tiles, the mechanism of the carousel driving the rolls which were used to crush the cane driven by mules and donkeys.

Open to the public on weekends since 2015, it is an opportunity to discover a whole section of Martinique history with the operating of the mill and guided tours by the guides of the Regional Nature Park. They will tell you the history of the mill and the exploitation, the process of crushing the cane, the work of the slaves in the different rooms of the mill, as well as the equipment of the donkeys and mules at the time.
A real live history class!