Mont Noir Columns

In the 19th century, an industrialist from Brussels named Mignot bought a pavilion after a World Exhibition and had it transferred to his own estate, which he called "Mont Noir".

At the same time he had the heath cultivated and he had a park laid out with avenues, ponds, columns and statues.

Unfortunately, nothing of that park is left now, except for the columns. The image of three columns on the purple signposts is therefore a reference to the estate as it used to be.

"In 1883 a wealthy industrialist from Brussels bought a plot of land in this part of the heathland and immediately bought the Romanian pavilion of the World Exhibition of 1884 in Brussels. He had it carefully dismantled and transferred to Kalmthout to rebuild there. He named it "Mont Noir". The domain was sold several times before it came into the hands of Bernhard Bernsohn-Stern, a Jewish diamond merchant. To make his country house more accessible, also for visitors, he had a construction of narrow gauge railway between Mont Noir and Heide station Bernsohn-Stern was just about to start building an amusement park on this site when the First World War broke out and he fled headlong, he would not return until after the war, but in the meantime Mont Noir has already been almost completely demolished. Only a few columns now remind of one of the entrance gates." - Nidonk