Lacoste, Vaucluse still. The oldest building in the town, the Maison Forte, dates back to the 9th century while the nearby Pont Julien remains one of the oldest standing examples of a working 1st century B.C. Roman bridge. Finnbar Mac Eoin, author of "Two Suitcases And A Dog" lives in Lacoste. He was the last person to drive across The Pont Julien before it closed to traffic in 2005. A plaque states, "We do not know who was the first person to cross, but an Irishman was the last". Lacoste is best known for its most notorious resident, Donatien Alphonse Francois comte
Alphonse Briart Alphonse Briart Alphonse Briart (1825–1898) was supervisor of the coal mines at Bascoup and Mariemont near Morlanwelz in the Hainaut province of Belgium, and a geologist who studied that region. During the period 1863-1896 he and Francois Cornet published a number of books and papers describing fossils and geological structures found near Mons. They devised theories - now generally accepted - as to the geological history of the region. After Cornet's death in 1887, Briart continued to write alone. The mineral Briartite is named for his grandson, Gaston Briart. Briart was born at Chapelle-lez-Herlaimont on 25 February 1825, the son