Last modified: 2024-03-30 by olivier touzeau
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![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-33-lc.gif)
Flag of Lège-Cap-Ferret - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 16 April 2022
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The municipality of Lège-Cap-Ferret (6,307 inhabitants in 1999, 9,362 ha; municipal website, tourism website) is located on a thin paeninsula separating the Basin of Arcachon from the Atlantic Ocean. The municipality spreads over 25 km, from the village of Lège, the administrative center of the municipality, to Cap Ferret. It was separated from the municipality of La Teste only in 1976. Lège-Cap-Ferret, once a desert area, is today a very popular sea resort, with beaches both on the Basin and the Ocean. However, its inhabitants have attempted to preserve their "independance" and their environment, and they would like to avoid the saint-tropezisation of the area.
The village of Lège was originally located on the shore of the ocean,
but it had to move progressively inland, towards the Basin, because the
village was constantly invaded by sand blown by the western winds.
The paeninsula was first settled by fishers from Gujan, Mestras, La
Teste and Arès. During the fishing season, they stayed on the
north-western coast of the Basin of Arcachon, which is protected from
the western and northern winds. They built small wooden huts or settled
in old boats ran aground, and progressively organized the villages of
Les Jacquets, Le Canon, Piraillan, L'Herbe and Cap Ferret. Since oyster
farming is also very popular in the Basin, the villagers were mostly
"sea farmers", that is both fishers and oyster farmers.
The lighthouse of Cap Ferret, marking the entrance of the Basin of
Arcachon, was built in 1835-1840 and inaugurated around 1855, as one of
the 43 main lighthouses on the French coasts (those with a range of
18-27 nautic miles). The lighthouse was destroyed by the Germans in
1944 and rebuilt in 1949.
Léon Lesca, a civil engineering contractor from La Teste, built during the Second Empire the modern port of Algiers and the railway Constantine-Philippeville. Back to France, he purchased, along with his brother Frédéric, a big estate on the paeninsula near the village of L'Herbe. In 1865-1866, he built a big villa in Moorish style, known as "the Algerian villa". The paeninsula was then a desert place, inhabited only by the lighthouse and semaphore keepers, a few customs officiers and rangers. There were no roads and the closest village, Lège, was located 15 km away. Everything required for the building of the villa was brought by ship. Originally a hunting lodge, the villa became the center of a big agricultural domain: Lesca exploited the forest and oyster parks, created fish tanks, grew grapevine, built a school, a wharf, houses for his employees, a chapel and a presbytery. He set up a 25-ha lanscaped garden and introduced several exotic trees in the region, such as yuccas and mimosas. Lesca died in 1913 in his villa, aged 88. The villa was unfortunately abandoned and suppressed in 1965. Only the chapel has remained; it is probably the only Catholic chapel in the world built in Moorish style.
Ivan Sache, 24 September 2006
The municipality adopted a new logo in april 2017. The new logo brings together blue, green and yellow, the town's emblematic colors, with the lighthouse and the L de Lège together. Wanted as "modern, elegant and authentic, designed to last and to easily distinguish the municipality, on the ground as on the internet", the logotype is also a nod to the tradition of poster designers. He is inspired by modern and colorist currents to embody the art of living specific to the peninsula." (source: La Reclame agency website)
The current flag is dark blue and declined after the logo with the colourful rectangle in the upper fly: photo (2021), photo (2021), photo (2018, together with Arcachon Bay territorial brand), photo (2018).
Olivier Touzeau, 16 April 2022
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-33-lc0.gif)
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-33-lc1.gif)
Former flags of Lège-Cap-Ferret - left, years 1980/90; right, before 2017 - images by Olivier Touzeau, 16 April 2022
The light blue with the former logo and the name of the commune above the graphic part of the logo can be seen here: photo (undated), photo (2017), photo (2015), photo (2013), photo (2012).
Olivier Touzeau, 16 April 2022
The flag of Lège-Cap-Ferret is blue with the municipal logo. The lighthouse is of course the Cap Ferret lighthouse. The colours most probably stand for forest, sand and water.
Pascal Gross & Ivan Sache, 24 September 2006
Images of an older flag, in use in the years 1980/1990 can be found in the following links. The flag is vertically divided white/dark green with the emblem of the municipality ion the center counterchanged. A vertical banner, white over green, can also be seen, especially in the german twin town of Lège-Cap-Ferret, Sandhausen, even in 2010/2015:
Olivier Touzeau, 16 April 2022
![[Burgee]](../images/f/fr-33~cf.gif)
Burgee of CNF - Image by Ivan Sache, 13 July 2002
Cercle Nautique du Ferret (CNF; website) was founded in 1949. Its burgee is a triangular white flag with a red border all around, a light blue cross and a white diamond with a red border placed over the middle of the cross. The black letters "CNF" are placed in the diamond.
Ivan Sache, 13 July 2002
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-33~cl.gif)
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-33~c1.gif)
Flag and burgee of CNC - Images by Ivan Sache, 24 April 2018
Club Nautique de Claouey (CNC; website) is located in Claouey, a village part of the
municipality of Lège-Cap-Ferret. CNC is actively involved in the revival of two traditional sailboats of the Basin of Arcachon called pinasse à voile and bac à voiles, respectively.
In the 1980s, only two genuine pinasses à voiles still sailed on the
Basin; today, there are some 20 boats whose owners have founded
Association des Pinasseyres in 1982. In 1987, the municipality of
Lège-Cap-Ferret granted to CNC the two municipal pinasses called
Ferret-Caple and Capricieuse.
The bac à voiles was designed in 1890 by the naval architect from
Arcachon Auguste Bert. The boat is very wide and flat-bottomed, so that
it was used to transport heavy loads; it was used in the past to ship
wooden posts from the neighbouring forest of Landes to the British coal
mines. The bac à voile was superseded in the 1930s by the motorized
boats. In 1999, the Mayor of Lège-Cap-Ferret and the President of
CNC decided to build a bac à voile from scratch, with the help of the
Sea College of Gujan-Mestras. The boat, called Escalumade (in Gascon,
sea spray) was successfully launched on 5 May 2001. CNC has also
sections for racing yachting and sea rowing.
The flag of CNC is blue with a yellow diagonal stripe charged with the blue letters CNC. The burgee of CNC (photo) is white with the club's full emblem, which features the club's flag.
Ivan Sache, 24 April 2004