FONTAINE DES CARMES

In the very distant times when Saint-Mihiel was called Godinecourt, several legends are linked to its foundation. One tells that 7 wicked fairies wanted the city to be swallowed up by the Meuse, so they went to the nearby quarry to get 7 big rocks and wanted to throw them into the river. The Archangel Michael then came to the head of his heavenly militia and made them flee; they abandoned their rocks on the bank of the river, where they can still be admired today. It is in recognition of having saved them, that the inhabitants gave the city the name of Saint-Michel, which became Saint-Mihiel by deformation.
The second legend dates back to around 709. Count Wulfoad, who had just returned from a pilgrimage to Mount Gargan and stayed at Heudicourt Castle, was hunting in the forest of Castelion, now Saint Christopher. He had with him a reliquary that his chaplain had hung on the branches of a hazelnut tree. Wishing to leave and seize the reliquary, the branch rose up, making the same manoeuvre several times with the same effect, he saw a divine sign. He therefore decided to build the monastery he wanted to create here. He endowed the abbey with many lands, including that of Godinécourt, and Benedictines took care of it. Saint-Mihiel owes its name to the archangel Michael who is the patron saint of the town to whom the Benedictine abbey is dedicated.

The Gaumont national forest extends partly over the territory of the commune of Saint-Mihiel. During the 1914-1918 War, this forest was included in the Saint-Mihiel Salient, the bridgehead of German troops inside the French lines and as such occupied by Bavarian divisions. The Fountain of Carmelites was built by one of these divisions. It consists of a tri-lobed basin, surmounted by a terminal bearing a conch and a face of ancient divinity.