Villefort, a one-road village at the foot of Mont Lozère, was built along a north-south geological fault between granite bedrock and schist. Its location on the Regordane Way, which was an economic and cultural artery during the Middle Ages, stimulated its growth. Villefort experienced another boom around 1860, becoming a true commercial hub of the Cévennes, when its train station – one of the main stations of the railway through the Cévennes – was built.

Built at the foot of Mont Lozère on the Regordane Way, Villefort has developed its own forms of architecture, which make use of both schist and granite.