Past: Crisp Museum Hosts Cape Girardeau Heritage Days Events

The Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum at Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus is presenting history events in conjunction with Cape Girardeau’s Heritage Days Oct. 5 and 6.

The Crisp Museum will be open from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. both days. These events are free and open to the public.

Visitors can learn about the Mississippian first peoples; pioneers; and German, French and Spanish cultures. They may also step back in time with memorabilia from Cape Girardeau’s history, the Civil War, riverboats, and early agriculture and industries.

The Crisp Museum is also hosting a guest speaker to celebrate Cape Girardeau’s Heritage Days.

On Oct. 5 at 1 p.m., Dr. Joel Rhodes, professor of history at Southeast, will present “Haunted Cape Girardeau: Where the River Turns a Thousand Chilling Tales.” Rhodes will discuss how for nearly 250 years, the mighty Mississippi has offered Cape Girardeau a legacy of prosperity while also dealing it some fearsome scars. Rhodes will visually lead visitors through a memorable journey of locations across Cape Girardeau, including buildings cut by the shrapnel of exploding steamboats, swamped in the debris of sudden floods and haunted by the restless spirits of those who washed ashore. He also will address locations beyond the riverfront where the tragedy’s indelible mark can be found in places like the back row of Rose Theatre or the ashen mists of Spook Hollow.