Petit-Canal: Memorial Sites and Trails

Petit-Canal brings together memorial sites and routes through varied landscapes. To help plan your trip, the highlights can be easily distinguished: the Marches des Esclaves tell the story of the slave trade, the Sentier de Beautiran passes nature and history sites, and the Boucle du moulin de Poyen runs through dry forest. Anse Maurice also offers a spot for family picnics.

Memorial Sites and History

The Marches des Esclaves consist of 54 carved stone steps leading to an esplanade. Enslaved people were sold there after arriving by ship. The steps connect the former port, where the captives arrived in tragic circumstances, to this esplanade. This places their arrival and sale in a specific historical context. The number of steps and their carved stone material describe the site; the esplanade points to its former function.

The church of Saint-Philippe-et-Saint-Jacques, memorial sites and historic buildings offer further insights into the area’s development and the significance of its history to Petit-Canal’s identity. The Monument de la Flamme Eternelle is also part of this historical theme: it was inaugurated on 28 May 1994. According to historians, the monument contains whips returned by forty plantation owners when slavery was abolished. The inauguration and the historians’ reported statement about the whips are two distinct historical points of reference.

Routes Through Landscape and History

The yellow-marked Sentier de Beautiran starts at the Marches des Esclaves. The route passes through sugarcane fields and swamp forest, by industrial relics, and continues to the coastal port and the chapel of Beautiran; the return journey follows the same path. The trail also passes the church of Saint-Philippe-et-Saint-Jacques, the ruins of the former prison, the road by the landscape park, the area behind the stadium, an old mill and a pond. The route description thus brings together landscapes with historical and other named sites. For trail conditions, consult current local information.

The Boucle du moulin de Poyen offers a different landscape. It runs through the dry forest of the guided biological reserve in the northeast of Grande-Terre. The start and finish are at Poyen station in Petit-Canal. For choosing a route, the details differ: this loop starts and finishes at the station, while the Sentier de Beautiran follows the same path on the return journey. The landscapes also have distinct features: sugarcane fields and swamp forest on one route, dry forest on the other.

Another Reason to Visit

At Anse Maurice, beach huts invite you to enjoy family picnics. If you would like to include a family picnic in your stay, this is a distinct highlight alongside the memorial sites and routes. The places described therefore offer different ways to spend your time in Petit-Canal: exploring historical contexts, following trails through varied landscapes or enjoying a picnic together.

Discover more destinations: Grand-Bois, Saint-Louis, Capesterre-de-Marie-Galante, Haut de la Montagne, Dubedou, Bazin, Morne-à-l'Eau, Pointe-À-Pitre.

See the overview of the wider region: Grande-Terre.