In contrast with the vast array of _chateaux de commerce_ scattered all through the Côte d'Or--the "Golden Hillside" of the Romans--is the Chateau de La Rochepot, marvellous as to its site and most appealing from all points. It was at Nolay that was born Lazare Carnot. It is the name of the _grand homme_ who is almost alone Nolay's sole claim to fame. His ancestor has his statue on the little Place, and his grandson--he who was President of the French Republic--is also glorified by a fine, but rather sentimentally conceived, monument. Lazare Carnot was born in a humble little cottage of Nolay, and this cottage, after all, is perhaps the town's most celebrated monument to the glorious name. The ancient home of the Sires de la Roche, the Chateau de La Rochepot, to-day belongs to Captaine Carnot, the son of the former President, who, thoroughly and consistently, has begun its restoration on model lines. The Sire de la Roche-Nolay, who planned the work, hired one by the name of Pot, it is said, to dig a well within the courtyard. The price demanded was so high that he was obliged to turn over the property itself in payment. It was by this means, says historic fact or legend, that the line of Pots, big and little, came into possession. This Philippe Pot, by his marriage, brought the property to the Montmorencys and himself to the high office of Counsellor of Anne de Beaujeau. He became seigneur of the lands here in 1428, and was afterwards better known as ambassador of the Duc de Bourgogne at London. His tomb was formerly in the Abbey of Citeaux, but has been transported to the Louvre. After the Rochepots' tenure the property came to the Sullys, and in 1629 to the family De Fargis. During the Revolution it was acquired as a part of the _biens nationaux_ of the government, and in 1799 the donjon of the chateau was pulled down, the same which is to-day being rebuilt stone by stone on the same site. The present noble edifice is after all nothing more than a completion of the admirably planned reconstruction of the fifteenth century; the restoration, or rebuilding, of to-day being but the following out of the plans of the original architect, a procedure which has seldom been attempted or accomplished elsewhere. It was done with the sixteenth century fountain of the Medicis in the Luxembourg Gardens (whose sculptures according to the original designs were only completed in 1839), but this is perhaps the only instance of a great mediæval chateau being thus carried to completion. The restorations of Carcassonne, Saint-Michel and Pierrefonds are in quite another category. The Chateau La Rochepot was a development of the ancient Chastel-Rocca, which stood on the same site in the twelfth century, and which drew its name originally from its situation.