Ferney

Ferney, a village of 1131 inhabitants, in the French department of Ain, 4½ miles NW. of Geneva, and 2 miles W. of the lake. It is celebrated as the place where Voltaire (1694-1778) resided during the last years of his life. He purchased the estate in 1758, and from that time was known variously as the seigneur, the philosopher, and the patriarch of Ferney. During these years Voltaire acted as a dictator of letters throughout French-speaking Europe, and his château was a kind of pilgrimage resort for all sorts and conditions of literary and political celebrities.