Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau, a town in the French department of Seine-et-Marne, in the middle of a forest of the same name, 2 miles from the Seine and 37 miles S.E. of Paris. The town is well-paved and has good streets, and has among its public buildings good barracks, a library, a college, public baths, and hospitals. There are sandstone quarries much userl for paving purposes, and manufactures of calico, porcelain, and stoneware. The palace, which stands in a beautiful park, and is surrounded by 85 square miles of forest, was a royal residence as early as the 12th century. Henri IV., Louis XIV., Napoleon, and Louis Philippe spent much money upon beautifying it; and it was here that Napoleon signed his act of abdication in 1814.