New Madrid MO Missouri
Frequently Asked Questions
At the town landing on a broad bend of the Mississippi, a few steps from Main Street. The New Madrid Historical Museum sits at the end of that street in a former brick saloon.
Yes. The town is small and everything that matters — the museum, the levee, the streets of shaded porches — is walkable from the landing. Only the Hunter-Dawson house needs a few extra minutes on foot or a shuttle.
The historical museum first, for the earthquake rooms; then up onto the earthen levee for the view over the bend; then the guided tour of the Hunter-Dawson house. The rest is an aimless stroll through a Midwestern river town.
For the earthquakes of the winter of 1811-1812, among the most violent ever felt in the United States. They so disrupted the Mississippi that witnesses saw the river appear to run backwards, and church bells rang as far away as the Atlantic coast. The great shock of 7 February 1812 destroyed the town outright.
Yes. The New Madrid seismic zone remains active and is monitored continuously. The museum displays a working seismograph in front of visitors, which makes the point concrete.
A lake created by those same quakes, across the river in Tennessee. The ground dropped all at once, drowning an entire forest whose dead cypress trunks still break the surface. It is seen on excursions rather than from the landing.
A white frame mansion built in 1859 for a merchant family, now a state historic site. It keeps its original furnishings, and the guided tour details the daily life of a prosperous river family before the Civil War.
The US dollar. Cards work at the museum and in shops, but New Madrid is a very small town, so carry some cash as a precaution.
Spring through autumn, the lower Mississippi cruising season. Missouri summers are hot and humid; spring and autumn make the climb onto the levee far more pleasant.
Yes, in small doses. The working seismograph and the earthquake stories hold children's attention. The rest of the call is quiet: porches, brick churches and neat lawns, with no organized activities.
