Taking a day trip from Uzès to the Cévennes feels like crossing a border — not of countries, but of culture. The road north climbs through olive groves and vineyards, then turns to chestnut forests and granite hills. The change in scenery mirrors the shift in rhythm. Life here is slower, shaped by the land rather than by visitors.
A Day Trip from Uzès to the Cévennes: Saint-Jean-du-Gard
For your day trip from Uzès to the Cévennes, take the D907 through Anduze to Saint-Jean-du-Gard, a small riverside town at the southern edge of the Cévennes National Park. For travelers based in Uzès, it’s just a 90-minute drive through a landscape that reveals more of itself with every turn.
Saint-Jean-du-Gard has long been a crossroads between the plains and the mountains, a place where merchants once traded, families settled, and herders passed on their way to summer pastures. Today, it’s quiet but lively enough — a weekly market fills the main square, and cafés near the bridge offer views of the Gardon River and the chestnut-covered hills beyond.
At the edge of town stands one of the most remarkable museums in southern France: Maison Rouge — Musée des Vallées Cévenoles, or the Cévennes Museum. The former silk-spinning mill now tells the story of the Cévennes through the work, tools, and traditions that defined life here. The museum is the destination, but the drive is part of the experience — a route through a living landscape of nature and resilience.
A Place Where History Lives and Breathes
Maison Rouge tells the story of the Cévennes through the lives of its people. The museum occupies a former silk-spinning mill built in the 1830s that operated until 1965 — the last of its kind in the region. Known locally as la Grande Rouge, it has been carefully restored and now anchors a museum dedicated to everyday Cévenol life.
One of the most striking exhibits explores the silk industry that once powered this part of the Cévennes. The Maison Rouge was, in fact, the last spinning mill to close, and much of the equipment remains in place. Walking through the machinery and learning about the generations of women and children who worked here is humbling.
This museum isn’t about nostalgia — it’s about endurance. The Cévennes were never an easy place to live. Harsh terrain, political persecution, and religious wars marked much of its past. The museum captures this grit beautifully, especially in the sections dedicated to Protestant resistance and rural autonomy. It’s not loud or preachy. It’s personal. You feel it.
The collection also explores other local industries — beekeeping, chestnut harvesting, herding, and small-scale farming. Exhibits show how people built their homes from local schist stone, how they used pack mules to move goods through the mountains, and how they worked the land with simple but ingenious tools. Even the sturdy wooden clogs worn by farmers and mill workers are displayed — reminders of lives shaped by the land itself.
A Modern Extension With Local Roots
In 2017, Vurpas Architectes added a contemporary wing to the Maison Rouge Cévennes Museum. The contrast between old and new is deliberate and striking. Local materials — chestnut wood, schist stone, and concrete — tie the new structure to the surrounding mountains. The layout, with narrow galleries and terraced courtyards, mirrors the rhythm of the landscape itself. Visitors move easily between wings of the building and centuries — from the industrial core of the past to the calm, open spaces of today.
The Cévenol Story in 30,000 Objects
Inside the Maison Rouge – Musée des Vallées Cévenoles, more than 30,000 objects document everyday life in the Cévennes. Once a working silk mill, the museum now preserves the spirit of a region built on endurance, faith, and ingenuity.
Exhibits include agricultural tools, cookware, textiles, toys, and household crafts, along with displays on chestnut farming, wool, and bread making — all showing the remarkable self-sufficiency of mountain life. The story of silk, once the region’s leading industry, unfolds through original machines, photographs, and first-hand accounts. At the same time, other displays trace the Cévennes’ Protestant identity and its long experience with religious repression.
Silk and the Wealth of the Cévennes
The museum lets you step into the world of the Cévennes’ silk era. You’ll find original machines, tools for silkworms and mulberry cultivation, and displays explaining how the famous “mulberry tree, the golden tree,” supported this industry.
For centuries, silk was the wealth of the Cévennes. Families raised silkworms in their homes, feeding them mulberry leaves until they spun cocoons like these in traditional frames. The white ovals nestled in twigs are silkworm cocoons, placed so the worms could spin their threads without tangling. The fine silk was then reeled, dyed, and woven — a delicate craft that linked these mountain villages to the fashions of Lyon and beyond.
Chestnuts: “The Bread of the Cèvennes”
Chestnuts were a staple food in the region, often called “the bread of the Cévennes.” After drying in special ovens (clèdes), chestnuts had to be shelled. To free the nuts, villagers slipped on spiked wooden shoes and stomped in troughs of chestnuts — a rhythmic labor that turned hard shells into food on the table. It was noisy, dusty, and backbreaking, but without it, there was no bread of the Cévennes.
Beekeeping in the Cévennes
Beekeeping here has deep roots. For centuries, Cévenol families kept bees in hollowed tree trunks capped with stone slabs — a simple, ingenious design that protected hives from wind, rain, and bears. The wild mountain chestnuts, heather, lavender, and thyme give Cévennes honey its deep, complex flavor and amber color. More than a source of sweetness, honey was medicine, trade, and survival in these remote valleys. Even today, local beekeepers carry on the tradition, their hives scattered across the same slopes where generations before them worked in rhythm with the land.
(Photo: Thierry Vezon)
Everyday Life and Living Spaces
In the Cévennes, farmers built their homes from the rock under their feet. Schist stone was stacked into thick walls and heavy roofs that could withstand rain, wind, and time. Entire hamlets grew from this stone, their earthy colors disappearing into the hillsides. Even today, these houses tell the story of a people who made shelter out of the very land they farmed.
Life here was never easy. The steep valleys that protected families also isolated them. Roads were scarce, and the rugged terrain made every journey a test of endurance. That’s where the pack horses and mules came in — sure-footed, patient animals that carried everything from chestnuts and wine to silk cocoons along the narrow mountain paths. Without them, the daily rhythm of Cévenol life would have been impossible.
Here and in other mountain regions, pack animals were often fitted with decorated harnesses that combined practical protection with symbolism. The discs shielded the mule’s eyes from distraction and glare, while also serving as charms against the “evil eye” and as displays of craftsmanship and pride.
Religion, Identity & Landscape
The museum explores how faith, land, and survival shaped the Cévennes. Its exhibits trace the region’s Protestant roots and reveal not just how people lived, but how belief and landscape forged identity.
It was this spirit that drew Robert Louis Stevenson, the Scottish author of Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, to the Cévennes in 1878. Seeking solitude and escape from heartbreak, he set out from Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille with his donkey, Modestine, and trekked more than 200 kilometers south through the mountains. His journey ended in Saint-Jean-du-Gard. Stevenson’s Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes immortalized the region’s wild beauty and independent spirit.
A Museum Staffed by People Who Care
I’ve visited a lot of museums, and this ranks among the very best — not just because of the exhibits, but because of the people. The staff at Maison Rouge were warm, engaging, and clearly proud of the stories they helped to tell. There’s something refreshing about a museum that doesn’t feel like it’s trying too hard. It doesn’t need to. The authenticity shines.
I wandered the galleries for hours, pausing often to take notes, photographs, or simply to admire the artistry of the exhibits. Every corner of the museum, from the light-filled atrium to the cozy reading room stocked with regional archives, invites close inspection.
The Town of Saint-Jean-du-Gard
If you’re planning a visit to Maison Rouge, don’t rush it. Make time to stop along your way. There are picnic spots and walking trails that start right from the road. Local cafés treat visitors as welcome friends. The food is as honest and comforting as the people serving it.
Saint-Jean-du-Gard is often called the southern gateway to the Cévennes. Set where the Gardon River cuts through the valley, it has long been a link between the plains and the high country. Traders once stopped here on their way to the markets of Alès; later, it became a gathering point for Protestant families scattered through the hills.
Today, the town still feels practical, not polished. The streets are narrow, with stone buildings and shaded squares. A small market fills the main square on Tuesdays, selling local cheese (Pélardon des Cévennes), artisanal charcuterie (including the famous Baron des Cévennes), honey, sweet Cévennes onions, and IGP Cévennes wine. The Protestant temple stands at the center—a reminder of the faith that shaped this region’s history.
Why it’s Worth the Drive
For travelers based in Uzès, a day trip into the Cévennes offers a vivid contrast to the medieval duchy. The road, the land, and the stories along the way reveal a France built on the beauty of nature and the resilience of its people. Once here, you can even trek the Chemin de Stevenson (GR70), following in the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson himself.
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One Response
thanks again for a great and unforgettable day trip with you to Saint Jean du gard. Loved it.