The laundries of Faux-la-Montagne

Appearing in the 19th century through concern for public health and personal hygiene, public laundries were sociable places in villages, reserved for women, who gathered there out of common need and where everyone had their place. The men only came to maintain them, thus avoiding the jibes of the women doing the washing, who had the reputation of having very sharp tongues. Covered laundries were still frequently used until the 1950s.