Clermont-en-Argonne

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Clermont-en-Argonne is a commune of the Meuse département in northeastern France.

In 1819, Norwich Duff wrote 'Clermont en Argonne is a very small town situated on the side of a hill on top of which there is a telegraph, a small church, and very extensive and fine views'.

The telegraph station was one in line of Semaphore (communication) stations constructed in the Napoleonic period for the rapid transmission of messages between Paris and Landau; but by 1819 France's eastern frontiers had been much reduced, and the final point of this telegraph line was Strasbourg. The platform where the Clermont telegraph station stood still exists, as do fine views from it in the direction of Verdun to the east. (A line of trees blocks the former panoramic view to the west.) The telegraph line closed in 1852, the year when the rail road linking Paris to Strasbourg was opened. The Clermont telegraph station was destroyed in or before 1916, when the platform on which it had stood was used as the mounting position for a large gun.

Back in 1819 Norwich Duff also recorded that the town 'is said to have manufacturies of paper and glass, but I did not see any of them. Clermont might easily be fortified'.

At the foot of the hill, Clermont is still a small town, its centre not radically 'improved' during the twentieth century. It boasts (at least) one excellent restaurant.