La plâtrière d'Armoy

On the edge of departmental road 902, shortly after the Pont de la douceur bridge on the way to Morzine, you can stop on the side of the road and cross an iron bridge over the Dranse.

On your left, you'll see a rather surprising sight: a large brick chimney and, in the background, a stone building colonized by trees: these ruins are all that's left of the old Armoy plasterworks. It operated from 1844 to 1934; a small canal, whose course is still distinct, is dug along the Dranse to feed a paddle wheel which in turn drives three pieces of furniture used to grind the gypsum ore. Crushing takes place after firing in 8 wood- and coke-fired furnaces. Their locations and even the door hinges are still visible. The paddle wheel, on the other hand, has disappeared.

The plaster thus produced was initially transported by a small railroad to Vongy, before being loaded onto boats on Lake Geneva. The construction of the Bioge road in 1854 put an end to rail transport. From then on, the production was transported by horse-drawn carriage to the Château de Montjoux, before being shipped to Geneva.

Faced with competition from other plasterworks, it closed its doors in 1934, before the commune of Armoy finally bought the site from Platrières de l'Est in 1975.