Originally a settlement of peasants, fishermen and boatmen at a ford on the river, "Petra" and/or "Sant Martin de la Peyre" (St. Martin of the rocks) belongs along the centuries to the baronets of Aiguèze, whose fortress overviewed the whole valley down to the delta of Ardèche into the Rhône, then in the duchy of Uzès. It only became a separate "commune" at the French Revolution, when Départements were created with the river here as borderline: Aiguèze in "département" Gard, Saint-Martin-de-la-Pierre as Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche in "département" Ardèche.