History of the château and its surroundings

The château

The chateau was built at different periods. We don't have many documents about the different stages. The early chateau was a long, narrow building, the same length as at present (about 1700). About 1850, the two towers were added and the building doubled in width, by adding a ground floor and first floor covered by a flat roof, surrounded by a stone balustrade.

From May 1929 to May 1931, Eugene O'Neill (famous American playwright, Nobel prize winner, 1888-1953) rented the chateau and spent many hours writing Mourning Becomes Electra. At the beginning of his stay he married Carlotta Monterey. In September 1929, he travelled to see representations of The Hairy Ape, and in 1930 Desire under the Elms and All God's Chillun Got Wings. After a return to the château, following a stay in the Canary Isles, he sent the script to the Guild Theatre. As soon as the script was accepted and the collaboration of the playwright was required, the couple decided to return permanently to the States in May 1931.
Some letters of O'Neill
 

In 1931, the 3 daughters of the owner, M. Maurice du Plessis sold the chateau, the farm and 350 hectares of field.

In 1969, the chateau was sold to an agricultural school which changed the chateau a great deal on the inside and did not keep the chateau in good condition.

In September 1999, the school sold the property, the roofs leaked and one of the chiminies risked collapsing. The main building and some outbuildings needed alot of restoration, in order to recreate them as they were in the olden days. In December 1999, the strong winds in France damaged an outbuilding.

By September 2000, the hunting lodge had been completely renovated, the old 18th century kitchen of the chateau was transformed into a family dining room & the roof of one of the towers was retiled. For the summer of 2001, the kiosk & the second tower were retiled, one of the outbuildings completely renovated, and the former grass tennis court "unveiled".

Saint-Antoine-du-Rocher

Previously known as "Saint-Petrus de Bella Valle", Saint-Antoine-du-Rocher took the name of a hermite saint, who came from the monestry of Saint-Julien in Tours, and died about the year 550. A chapel has been built on the site of the hermite's "home" and was the destination of an annual pilgrimage. The chapel is partly built into the rock face, giving it a unique character.

The dolmen of the "Grotte aux Fées"

At the extremity of the commune of St Antoine du Rocher with that of Mettray, the beautiful dolmen of the "Grotte aux Fées" is one of the best worked megalithic monuments in France. It was classified as a historical monument in 1911 and is the second in size in France by its volume. One of the stones weighs 60 tonnes, and the dolmen is a type of cave. Eleven metres long and 3.7 metres high, it is made up of 12 stones, made between 2500 and 1500 B.C.