Former salt refinery

In the early 19th century, the salt trade expanded after the Napoleonic wars. Ile de Ré salt lost its popularity because of its grey colour. In 1818, Benjamin Dubois-Dufontaine built a refinery near the port to bleach salt, but went bankrupt. Pierre-Nicolas Beuvain took over the refinery in 1830, enlarging it and installing a new salt processing system. By 1861, the plant employed 20 people and produced 15,000 tonnes of salt a year. The salt was washed, processed and dried before being put...