Nature

Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park is located within the small town of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. The town itself is situated a little over a mile west of the Mississippi River, just on the edge of a vast floodplain. The floodplains of the Mississippi River helped create the town by providing fertile soil for farming. New Madrid’s Faultline shaped parts of Missouri including Ste. Genevieve through earthquakes. The foothills of the Ozarks, to the west of Ste. Genevieve, provided minerals that were mined by the residents of Ste. Genevieve.

The landscape of the area near Ste. Genevieve not only led to the creation of the town, but through changes has continued to impact the town today. People in modern Ste. Geneiveve still farm the area extensively and mine minerals from the earth. The town still endures threats of flooding from the Mississippi River and earthquakes along the New Madrid Faultline.