Saint-Véran is a traditional village in the Hautes-Alpes department that once had an important craft (wickerwork, tools, cabinetmaking, carpentry) and agricultural (goat and cattle breeding) activity. Established around the exploitation of a copper mine, it also extracted slate from galleries dug in cliffs. Saint-Véran's traditional houses are adapted to mountain life with a ground floor made of 19.6 to 27.5 in (50 to 70 cm) thick stone walls, a fuste (upper part) made of stacked tree trunks crossed at the corners, and a roof of larch shingles.