Copy of Butte de Vauquois: Underground Tunnels and Craters of the Mine War 1

By Sandra & Christophe · 7 min read

If this is your second trip to the Meuse-Argonne, you have probably already done the four obvious sites: the American Memorial at Montfaucon, the cemetery at Romagne, the Butte de Vauquois, and Verdun. The good news is that the Argonne hides a second layer. Within thirty minutes of Ferme Lafayette there are state monuments most American visitors never see, a 1918 ravine where the Lost Battalion held out for six days, two ridges that broke the French Army in 1916 and where the trenches are still there. This article maps six lesser-known stops, with notes on how to visit them well and what to watch for on the ground.

Why the Argonne is dotted with small remains

Most of the famous WWI sites in this region are big and federal: built by national governments after the war, on dedicated land, with parking and visitor centres. The Argonne countryside between them — the fields, woods and small villages — is full of smaller traces that never got that treatment. A few were funded by individual US states wanting to honour their National Guard divisions. A few are battlefield markers laid by veterans’ associations and slowly fading. Many are simply terrain: trenches, shell holes, concrete bunkers, the outline of a vanished village under the grass. None of it is hard to reach. You just need to know it is there.

Six lesser-known stops within 30 minutes

1. The Pennsylvania State Memorial at Varennes-en-Argonne. Ten minutes by car from Ferme Lafayette. A small, elegant classical monument funded by the State of Pennsylvania and designed by Paul Cret, dedicated in 1927 to honour the soldiers of the 28th Division who took Varennes in September 1918. It sits in a quiet garden in the middle of the village and is rarely busy. Free, open at all hours.

2. The Missouri State Memorial at Cheppy. Fifteen minutes from Ferme Lafayette. A second state-funded memorial, this one for the soldiers of Missouri — the men of the 35th Division, who attacked through Cheppy on the first day of the Meuse-Argonne. Captain Harry S. Truman, future president, commanded an artillery battery in this division. A simple stone obelisk with allegorical figures, in an open field at the edge of the village. Free, always open.

3. The Lost Battalion site at Charlevaux. Twenty-five minutes into the Argonne forest, near the village of Binarville. In early October 1918, around 550 men of the 77th Division under Major Charles Whittlesey were cut off in a small ravine here and held out for six days under continuous German fire, with no food and almost no water, until they were relieved. Only about 200 walked out. A small stone marker in the ravine and a couple of interpretive panels are all that mark the site today. Park at the trailhead and walk the last 500 metres on foot. Free, always accessible.

4. Le Mort-Homme. Thirty minutes east of Ferme Lafayette, on the western bank of the Meuse. The hill where, in 1916, the French and German armies tore each other apart for nearly six months. A small road climbs to the top of the ridge, where a sculpture of a skeleton emerging from a shroud bears the inscription “Ils n’ont pas passé” — “They did not pass.” Around the monument, the ground is still pocked with shell holes and short stretches of trench under the trees. Powerful and almost always empty of visitors.

5. Côte 304. Five minutes further west of Le Mort-Homme. Another Verdun-sector ridge that absorbed forty thousand French casualties in the spring of 1916. The summit holds a French national monument, and a small loop trail walks you through preserved trenches, a German concrete bunker and unrestored shell craters. Allow forty-five minutes on foot.

6. The destroyed village of Cumières-le-Mort-Homme. Walking distance from Le Mort-Homme. One of nine “villages mort pour la France” — villages so completely destroyed in 1916 that they were never rebuilt and still appear on official maps as “villages détruits” under permanent state guardianship. Stone posts mark where the main street, the church and the school once stood. A short, silent visit.

Walking responsibly: what is still in the ground

More than a century later, the Argonne and the Verdun sector still produce hundreds of tons of unexploded WWI shells every year — “the Iron Harvest”. People have been killed picking up what looked like inert metal. The rules are simple: do not touch any metal object you find on the ground, do not enter fenced or signed-off areas, do not collect “souvenirs” (removing WWI artefacts is illegal in many places). If you find what looks like a shell, mark its location mentally and tell the mairie or the gendarmerie. The same applies to bones. The forests look peaceful; the ground still is not.

A suggested half-day route

You can fit any three of these stops into a four-hour morning. Two options that work particularly well: (a) the “American” route — Pennsylvania Memorial → Missouri Memorial → Lost Battalion — with a sandwich lunch in Varennes-en-Argonne; or (b) the “Verdun sector” route — Le Mort-Homme → Cumières ruins → Côte 304 — with lunch in Verdun afterwards. If you have a full day, do both, with a picnic between them at the Lost Battalion trailhead.

Books and small museums that explain what you are seeing

“To Conquer Hell” by Edward Lengel is the best single-volume English-language history of the Meuse-Argonne offensive. “Finding the Lost Battalion” by Robert Laplander is the definitive book on the Charlevaux site. On the ground, the small Musée d’Argonne in Varennes-en-Argonne pairs naturally with the Pennsylvania Memorial visit, and the private Musée Romagne ’14-’18 in Romagne-sous-Montfaucon sits within ten minutes of the Missouri Memorial.

Ferme Lafayette is within thirty minutes of all six sites. Sandra and Christophe keep an updated paper map of these smaller stops at reception and will mark in the access points and trailheads on yours before you set out. Breakfast is included; a three-course dinner is available after a long day in the field. See room availability →