Raon-aux-Bois (French pronunciation: [ʁaɔ̃ o bwa] ) is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France.

Raon-aux-Bois
The town hall in Raon-aux-Bois
The town hall in Raon-aux-Bois
Coat of arms of Raon-aux-Bois
Location of Raon-aux-Bois
Map
Raon-aux-Bois is located in France
Raon-aux-Bois
Raon-aux-Bois
Raon-aux-Bois is located in Grand Est
Raon-aux-Bois
Raon-aux-Bois
Coordinates: 48°03′26″N 6°31′18″E / 48.0572°N 6.5217°E / 48.0572; 6.5217
CountryFrance
RegionGrand Est
DepartmentVosges
ArrondissementÉpinal
CantonRemiremont
IntercommunalityCA Épinal
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Christian Vitu[1]
Area
1
24.05 km2 (9.29 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
1,214
 • Density50/km2 (130/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
88371 /88220
Elevation385–591 m (1,263–1,939 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Inhabitants are called Raonnais in French.

Geography

edit

Raon-aux-Bois is positioned in the district known as the Vôge Plateau, on the western edge of the Vosges Mountains. As the name of the commune implies, the district has retained its woodland countryside, with traditional mature timberland in the south and conifer plantations to the north.

A small river, the Niche [fr], crosses the centre of the village on the way to Arches where it joins up with the Moselle. The river's source is in the Forest of Humont to the south.

The word 'Raon' is believed to share the same root as the English word 'ravine', and to indicate, in this instance, the confluence of several streams; here the Champée, the Prés Roussel and the Racine all feed into the Niche.

History

edit

The earliest traces of human activity date back only to the late Middle Ages, suggesting that throughout and beyond the first millennium the thick forest of this part of Lorraine were left to nature.

Deuring the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there are records of people from Raon repopulating the neighbouring village of Bellefontaine, which had been abandoned a century or so earlier, probably as a result of plague.

There are few surviving records of Raon from its early centuries, but it is believed to have been controlled at various times by one of three lordships, while on the ecclesiastical side the church, dedicated to Amé de Remiremont, fell within the Diocese of Saint-Dié in the deanery of Remiremont.

In 1790 the village was placed within the canton of Éloyes, an arrangement which lasted virtually ten years. The present administrative structure is based on dispositions effected in 1800.

During the nineteenth century and well into the first part of the twentieth century, the village experienced a steady prosperity based on the spinning and starching industries.

Personalities

edit

Julien Absalon, a mountain biker born in 1980 at nearby Remiremont, grew up at Raon-aux-Bois.

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.