Coffeehouse La Grivelière

Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The house The Grivelière came into being at the end of the seventeenth century, founded by Jacobine monks under the name of Manufacture Saint Joseph. Located in the valley of the Grande Rivière at Vieux-Habitants (Basse-Terre), it gradually extended by successive acquisitions, notably in 1761 by Laurent Georisse, who unified the lands of La Surprise. At that time, the coffee plant operated 50 hectares with a servile labour, with 45 slaves in 1788. The infrastructure, including an upgrade to transform coffee, dates mostly from the 4th quarter of the 18th century.

In 1842, Auguste-Alexandre Perriolat acquired the estate and renamed it La Grivelière, in tribute to his native region in Drôme. It directs production to the roucou (red colouring for military dyes) and cocoa, partially abandoning coffee. After the First World War, François Pagésy bought the site back in 1919 and restored his coffee vocation, extending the crops to 90 hectares (coffee, cocoa, vanilla) until the farm stopped in 1983. Classified as a historic monument in 1987, it was acquired by the General Council of Guadeloupe in 1988.

Since the 2000s, the association Verte Vallée redynamise La Grivelière by combining ecotourism, professional reintegration (100 jobs in 2002) and agricultural revival (1.5 tons of coffee in 2007). The site, partially restored according to the methods of the nineteenth century, includes a dozen typical buildings: master house, mills, scapegoats, and ancient slave houses. Closed since the VOCID-19 (2020) pandemic, its future remains uncertain in 2024.

Architecturally, the dwelling illustrates a preserved model of antillean colonial exploitation. Its paved aisles distribute functional buildings (roast hangar, cocoa walling, oratory) and workers' houses, some inherited from the servile period. The estate, integrated into Guadeloupe National Park, also symbolizes local economic changes, from slave culture to contemporary social and environmental projects.

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