New Madrid Earthquakes

One of North America’s greatest natural events occurred in late 1811 and early 1812 when a series of earthquakes occurred along a fault line that extends about 150 miles northeasterly from Marked Tree (Poinsett County) across several states. The New Madrid Earthquakes caused extensive damage through northeast Arkansas and southeast Missouri, significantly changing the landscape and impacting the area’s settlement. Tremors were felt as far away as the East Coast—for example, church bells rang in Boston and pavement cracked in Charleston, South Carolina. About thirty years after the quakes, one man recalled what the tremors felt like throughout the Clark County area