A traditional village in the Landes
Seignosse is now a renowned seaside resort, but this has not always been the case. Let’s take a look back at its history: the original village was home to herders and farmers, set back from the ocean.
The inhabitants lived in a vast marshy area, between heathland and marshes. These herdsmen kept watch over their flocks whilst perched on the famous ‘stilts’, which allowed them to see far into the distance and to cross these vast wetlands and pastures where their flocks grazed.
Napoleon III decided to drain these vast Landes and turn them into a pine forest, which is now one of the largest in Europe. Thus, our inhabitants went from being shepherds to becoming foresters and resin tappers, harvesting the wood and resin from the pine trees.
The must-visit resort on the southern coast of the Landes
The 1960s were to change everything! The French government embarked on massive projects to create holiday resorts and boost tourism along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts.
This is when the Seignosse Océan development sprang up, as we know it today, with its various neighbourhoods: Le Penon, Les Bourdaines and Les Estagnots. The beaches were developed, holiday residences welcomed the first tourists, second-home owners began to invest, then came the large campsites, and finally, the arrival of surfing in the 1970s and 1980s, which was to profoundly transform the economy of our region.
