CHAPTER X 
“LA GERBETIERE” OF YESTERDAY AND TODAY 
Home of Audubon’s youth at Couéron—Its situation on the Loire—His- 
tory of the villa and commune—Changes of a century. 
Before following further Audubon’s history in 
America, we shall return for a more intimate view of 
the happy home which he had left behind him in France. 
This was at Couéron, a small commune in the arron- 
dissement of Saint-Nazaire, on the right bank of the 
Loire, nine miles west of Nantes. Here, as we have 
noticed, his father had acquired a country place at about 
the outbreak of the Revolution. The old house still 
stands, though in decay, and is still known as “La Ger- 
betiére,” a name possibly referring to the wheat which 
is harvested from the surrounding fields as of yore. In 
the records of that district country places are always 
designated by their proper names, and it is a curious 
fact that while such names survive, they are seldom or 
never displayed on door or gate. 
In a journal written before 1826, Audubon says: 
“My father’s beautiful country seat, situated within 
sight of the Loire, about mid-distance between Nantes 
and the sea, I found quite delightful to my taste, not- 
withstanding the frightful cruelties I had witnessed in 
that vicinity not many years previously. The gardens, 
greenhouses, and all appertaining to it appeared to me 
of a superior cast.” Though it was occupied for many 
years previously as a refuge from the turmoil or heat 
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