Dive into its history
From a fishing village to an Atlantic seaside town : the story behind Pornichet’s beginnings Pornichet carries its history proudly, etched into its façades and woven through its avenues… A story shaped by salt production, sea bathing traditions and the arrival of the railway that changed everything. It reveals itself as you wander, look up and take your time. The sound of waves rolling onto Plage des Libraires , the silhouettes of villas outlined in the morning light — here, time has always moved a little more slowly than elsewhere.
From a fishing village to an Atlantic seaside town : the story behind early days of Pornichet
In the middle of the 19th century, Pornichet was a village of 400 inhabitants, shared between Saint-Nazaire and La Baule-Escoublac. Life here revolved around salt harvesting, fishing and agriculture. The shoreline remained wild, with dunes still untouched.
Then came the rise of sea bathing. What had once been a medical treatment reserved for the wealthiest began attracting the first holidaymakers: dignitaries and businesspeople arriving from Nantes, Angers and Paris. They discovered an unspoilt coastline, salty sea air and a unique light. In 1879, the railway connected Pornichet to the rest of France. The village began to transform. Villas started appearing, families settled in. In 1886, Charles Mercier, a Parisian lawyer, created the Sainte-Marguerite district under a carefully regulated development plan. On 9 April 1900, with nearly 1,200 inhabitants, Pornichet officially became an independent town. Its first mayor Charles Mercier himself.
The 20th century continued this transformation: the first campsite opened in 1936, the seafront boulevard was created in 1930, followed by thalassotherapy, and later, in 1978, a deep-water marina that established Pornichet as the largest leisure harbour in the department of Loire-Atlantique . From the 1990s onwards, a covered market, library and cultural centre completed the identity of a town that has never stopped reinventing itself.
