Travel Guide Mont-Saint-Jean

This vast rural municipality, close to Sillé-le-Guillaume, has less than 700 inhabitants. Marked by the relief of the Mancelles Alps and especially of the Coëvrons, it is known for the cyclists to shelter the pass of the Cross of Six Paths.The first parish sanctuary is built by monks to the eleventh century. In the Middle Ages, a priory depends on the abbey Saint-Nicolas of Angers. But human occupation has been confirmed on the site since Gallo-Roman times. Excavations revealed the presence of a villa with significant agricultural activity but also steel. From the sixteenth century to 1914, a forge employs up to 400 people. Before concentrating in northeastern France, the metallurgical industry was dispersed throughout the territory, where there was water, forests, and surface deposits on the surface. Like in Mont-Saint-Jean. Since the end of the First World War, dominant activity remains agriculture through a small forty farms in polyculture and livestock farming, particularly poultry. The municipality counts, in addition to a dozen merchants and artisans.