Marigot

The name Marigot comes from the marshes that surrounded the site, and the area has been inhabited since the 17th century. Its harbour became the French side's port, with warehouses where coffee, salt, rum and cane sugar were stored for shipping. To protect them, the commander Jean-Sébastien de Durat built a fort, a prison and a bridge in 1789 on the orders of Louis XVI. The fort, with barracks for 54 troops, was abandoned by the military in 1851; the prison was used until 1968, when it became the fire station.

The town's churches tell part of its social history. A church built in 1840 counted 800 to 900 parishioners, more than 500 of them enslaved, and Methodism reached the island from Anguilla when John Hodge came to Marigot in 1817 but could not found a church there. The present Catholic church of St. Martin of Tours dates from 1941.

Modern services came late: electricity arrived in 1963 and a seawater desalination plant in 1965. Marigot later became a duty-free shopping town, using its free-port status to sell luxury goods and French fashion. Hurricane Irma struck the island on 6 September 2017 and damaged or destroyed 95 per cent of the structures on the French side. The town's population has been declining for decades — from 3,700 in 2007 to 3,196 in 2017 and 2,911 in 2022.

Marigot is a French town with a Caribbean population. French is the language of administration and schooling, but English is spoken in the street, and most residents across the French side are of black or mixed Creole ancestry, with a sizable Haitian community and smaller numbers of Europeans. That mix shows in the market, where the vendors' banter is part of the attraction, and in the town's festivals.

Carnival on the French side usually runs between February and early March, while the Dutch side holds its own between mid-April and early May. The island carries the name of Saint Martin of Tours, and the parish church in Marigot is dedicated to him. Religious life is mainly Christian, and the history of Methodism on the island — brought by a preacher from Anguilla in the early 19th century — is a reminder of how closely the island has always been tied to its English-speaking neighbours.

The French connection remains strong in the shops and cafés, and in the town's pride in its duty-free trade in fashion and luxury goods. Courtesy follows French habits — a greeting on entering a shop, a slower pace at the table.

Marigot had a population of 2,911 in 2022, and the figure has fallen at every count since 2007. The town is made up of several quarters, including Agrément, Hameau-du-Pont, Galisbay, Concordia, Sandy Ground, Saint-James and Bellevue. As the capital it holds the institutions of the collectivity, and much of the French side's population lives within a short drive.

The economy depends on tourism and shopping. The figures are hard: in 2022 a third of the town lived below the poverty line, and unemployment among people aged 15 to 64 stood at 23.6 per cent. Across the French side, the population fell after Hurricane Irma destroyed most of the island's infrastructure in 2017, and in 2025 only 12 per cent of students starting high school had a sufficient command of French — a problem linked to a high drop-out rate.

The day follows the port and the road. Minibuses run along the crowded main road to Philipsburg, the market is at its best on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, and ferries and yachts come and go from the bay. The 2013 causeway bridge across the lagoon has brought the airport much closer.

Marigot's food is French and Creole. Restaurants around the marina and the waterfront serve French cooking and seafood, and the town shares with Grand Case a reputation for good meals on the French side of the island. Baguettes, pastries, French cheese, charcuterie and wine are part of everyday shopping.

Creole dishes run through the menus: accras, salt-cod fritters; colombo, a curry of chicken or goat; johnnycakes, fried dough breads; and locri, the island's one-pot rice dish cooked with meat or fish. Fresh fish and seafood are the local strength. The waterfront market sells spices and local products as well as souvenirs.

Local rums and guavaberry — a liqueur made from a small wild berry, shared with the Dutch side of the island — are the usual drinks. Eating more cheaply means the market, the supermarkets and the roadside lolos, open-air shacks serving grills and Antillean dishes, which are found elsewhere on the French side, especially at Grand Case.