That Jeanne and the other children of Domremy participated in such rituals as Fountain Sunday in mid-Lent only proves that the children were gay and merry; that they were not subdued by the black cloud of war. The ancient Celtic tree-worship, perhaps, lent grace to the romance of the lives of the children, then as now. "In spring," said Gerardin, a peasant sixty years of age, "that tree is as fair as lily flowers, the leaves and branches sweep the ground."
Even in Joan's time, as she testified at her trial, there was a tradition in her country that she had received her mission at the Fairies' Tree.  In 1549, Richard de Wassebourg wrote that "...the tree under which [Joan received her revelation] can still be seen, and that since then it never rained nor snowed under it."  The tree was still standing when Montaigne passed through Domremy in 1580.  It was then referred to as the "Maid's Tree", and was evidently pointed out to visitors to the small village.  A vineyard had been planted in the fields below the Tree, referred to as the "Vineyard of the Maid", and the fountain still flowed nearby.  Not long afterwards, Etienne Hordal, who claimed a kinship with the Maid, had a small oratory built "in honor of Our Lady and in memory of the Maid, at the very place where she is said to have been commanded by God to go to the king."  The chapel of the Bois Chenu fell into ruins in the 18th century.  Its ruins were still evident in 1819, when Charles Pensée did a watercolor showing part of the wall of a bay still standing. 

In the foreground, the Chapel du Bois-Chenu  built by Etienne Hordal in memory of Jeanne d'Arc.  The chapel is as it appeared circa 1820.  It had fallen to ruins in the 18th century.  After a watercolor by Charles Pensée .

Fragments of the Chapel du Bois-Chenu  discovered by Mgr Dupanloup upon excavation of the ruins in 1869.   The key-stone above displays the du Lys coat of arms, while the threshold bears the name of Etienne Hordal.