La Cotinière, a traditional fishing village in Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron
Located on the west coast of the Ile d'Oléron, ten minutes from your campsite on the Ile d'Oléron, this port village welcomes you in a unique atmosphere. Not to be missed if you are fond of fish, the place combines the charm of the traditional fishing villages of Charente Maritime with the grandiose landscapes of the Oléron island.
Historical background of the village
At the beginning of the 19th century, La Cotinière was just a natural cove on the ocean which only housed a few small boats. Only two locks protected it before the construction of a dike in 1843 and then a quay in 1867 which was unfortunately destroyed by a storm in 1870.
It was only 20 years later that the complex was rebuilt with the addition of a lighthouse, the one that can still be seen today, painted with its red and white rings.
The habitat of the villages at that time is typical of the traditional houses of the island: a modest one-storey building with a fish pole fixed on the façade to dry the fish; an external staircase leading to the attic to store the crops. On the land there is a well and the customary wine cellar for the production of wine from the vines.
The village originally housed the chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Saint-Nicolas which was buried by the sands. After unsuccessful attempts to rebuild a new church on the same site, the town council decided to build a contemporary style church in 1966, decorated with stained glass windows painted by the master-painter Henri Martin-Granel.
