Continuing education programs explore our region's past

The New Madrid earthquake happened more than 200 years ago, but its effects can still be seen on the physical landscape around New Madrid, Mo.

This month, Dr. Frank Nickell and Julie Grueneberg will lead a tour, "Looking for the New Madrid Fault," focusing on the area.

It's offered through Southeast Missouri State University's continuing education program. "We've been doing tours, I guess, for about 25 years," Nickell says. "It's been a while."

They last did the New Madrid Fault tour a couple years ago and "had a huge enrollment, more than we could handle," Nickell says. "So we decided to do it again."

This time, the enrollment is being limited to 15 or 20 people -- the last New Madrid tour had 40 or 50. Nickell prefers the smaller groups. "We can get to know each other and stay together," he says. "It makes it a more manageable and meaningful tour."

The tour will explore the results and history of the New Madrid earthquake of 1812, which was so strong it toppled chimneys in Cincinnati and rang church bells in Charleston, S.C.

Stops include sand boils, places where the earth sank, the epicenter of the quake and a visit to the New Madrid History Museum.

"Well see the big sand boil at the west end of town," Nickell says. "It was used as a trash dump for a long period of time."

He says locals would toss their trash on the boil, and when it rained, the refuse would sink below the sand.

"There's still an indentation, it's still a very low place," he says. "It's just a neat feature. Who knows, if we have another earthquake, all that trash just might come to the surface."

In April, Nickell and Grueneberg will lead another tour, this time a new one: "Chasing History (in Southern Illinois and Kentucky)."

"We're going to go into Southern Illinois and take a look at interesting places and features between Cape and Cairo," Nickell says.

The group will also go the Courthouse Museum in Cairo and look at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, which Nickell calls "one of the most important geographical points in the country."

From there, the tour continues to Columbus, Ky., to "take a look a the Belmont Civil War site across the river," Nickell says. "It's an interesting place to see the relationship between Missouri and Kentucky during the war."

People of all ages enjoy the tours, but Nickell says most participants are retired or semiretired. "We get a good mix of people," he says. "That's one of the strengths. We cater to older people; they don't have to the driving and we have a really good lunch."

Though registration is open until the week before each tour, enrollment is limited, so the sooner you sign up, the better.

__How to register__

> To register, or for more information, go online to semo.edu/continuinged, call 573-986-6879 or stop by the Polytech Building (8 a.m. to 5 p.m., room 301).

> Registration is not complete, and your spot not guaranteed, until payment has been received.

> The registration deadline for each tour is a week before the tour.

__Looking for the New Madrid Fault__

> When: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, March 16

> The details: Participants are asked to dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes. Cost is $59.

__Chasing History (in Southern Illinois and Kentucky)__

> When: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, April 20

> The details: Participants are asked to dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes. Cost is $59.