Of very old origin, the two villages of Chatonrupt and Sommermont merged in 1972 to form a single municipality. The woods of the heights are punctuated with Celtic tumuli, burials which reveal a Gallic occupation. We also discover grapevine scree and iron mines which were exploited from 1835 until around 1900. During the same period, patouillets and bocards washed and crushed the ore in the two villages. The stream which crosses them and joins the Marne, of 1st category for fish farming, also allowed the operation of flour and oil mills.
According to tradition, the church of Chatonrupt bears the name of an old hamlet, Saint-Brice, which was destroyed by the Imperialists of Charles V in 1544. A tombstone is attached to the one of its exterior walls; it comes from the burial of the parents of Professor Nicolas Piat (1690-1756), a native of Chatonrupt. He was rector of the Universities of Paris (Sorbonne and Collège de France) under the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV. Near the porch is an 18th century Calvary, sculpted by Nicolas-Memmie Varlet, born in 1739 in Cousances-les-Forges (Meuse). This monument, dedicated to Saint Vincent and the vine, recalls the wine-growing past of the town. As for the Saint-Maurice church in Sommermont, it was looted in 1544 by the Imperials who took its reliquary to Rhine-Westphalia.
Take the D 332 from Chatonrupt to discover the magnificent Sommermont valley. Populated by gray herons, this enchanting place is a regular station for the black stork, which can be admired from spring to autumn. As soon as they enter the valley, the walker walks under the monumental railway viaduct built in 1892 by the Eastern Railway Company. With a central height of 35 meters and a length of 138 meters, some of its arches are decorated with lion-headed gargoyles. This structure, which belonged to the strategic line between Brienne-le-Château (Aube) and Sorcy (Meuse), has supported the RN 67 since 1995. The old station of Chatonrupt-Sommermont, located at the entrance to the viaduct, was then destroyed.
A Merovingian castle mound, estimated at the beginning of the 8th century, appears in a bend in the stream just before reaching Sommermont, at a place called Ginvalotte. This ditched mound, which supported a wooden fort and its "dominium" (ancestor of the dungeon), was identified in 2020 by archaeologist Denis Schmitter, commissioned by Drac Grand-Est. The motte de la Ginvalotte is classified "Natural and anthropogenic fortification of the plain, in the meander of the river".
The village of Sommermont was administered from 1788 to 1840 by a branch of the Hédouville family, famous since the Crusades, which provided three mayors. Among them, Captain Joseph-Hubert de Hédouville (1781-1840), distinguished himself from Austerlitz to Waterloo within the 2nd regiment of mounted carabineers. Knight of the Legion of Honor and of the Orders of Saint-Louis, he ended his career as an instructor at the cavalry school of Saumur. His grave and that of his father, Viscount Jean-Hubert de Hédouville (1749-1835), captain of the National Guard, have been restored. They are visible in the small village cemetery.
