More than 200 years ago, West Tennessee shook violently during a series of powerful earthquakes that were felt as far away as New York City, Boston, and even Montreal.
These earthquakes are referred to as The New Madrid Earthquakes – named after the city of New Madrid, Missouri, which was close to the epicenter of the quakes.
The results of the earthquakes that hit in 1811 and 1812 are visible today in the landscape of Tennessee.
According to Dr. Mitch Withers, not many people lived in the area at the time. “It was mostly frontier,” he explained, “But, it was still enough people around that it is reasonably well documented with some very nice personal accounts from people that were living in the area at the time.”
The houses, the trees, the whole earth shook. Some thought the end of the world was come and time would be no more.
Mary Morris smith’s written account of the 1811 earthquake
Dr. Withers is an Associate Research Professor at the Center for Earthquake Research and Information, or CERI, at the University of Memphis.
The New Madrid Earthquakes were powerful enough to create a new lake known as Reelfoot Lake. The earthquakes were estimated to be between a magnitude 7 and 8.
Will another set of earthquakes shape Tennessee again in the future? Dr. Withers believes that’s possible, “In addition to those three very large earthquakes, we can do estimates, based on the geology and the number of times they’ve happened in the past. And the USGS (United States Geological Survey) estimates that there’s about a 10% probability of a repeat of those 1811 style earthquakes in the next 50 years.”
Reelfoot Lake exhibit in the Tennessee State Museum, 1955. Tennessee State Library and Archives. 
So-called “Crane Town” at Reelfoot Lake, showing egrets, blue herons and cormorants nesting, 1939. Tennessee State Library and Archives. 
The foot bridge in Reelfoot Lake State Park, 1938. Tennessee State Library and Archives. 
Cypress trees in Reelfoot Lake, 1938. Tennessee State Library and Archives. 
Cypress trees and a view of Reelfoot Lake near Blue Bank, 1938. Tennessee State Library and Archives. 
A typical boat dock at Reelfoot Lake, 1938. Tennessee State Library and Archives. 
Two individuals fishing for bream among the cypress trees and shore bonnets in Reelfoot Lake, 1940. Tennessee State Library and Archives. 
An aerial view of Reelfoot Lake and the town of Samburg, Tennessee, 1941. Tennessee State Library and Archives. 
An aerial view of Reelfoot Lake from the southeast side looking northwest, 1941. Tennessee State Library and Archives. 
An aerial view of Reelfoot Lake, showing the cypress trees and the shore bonnet beds near the shore. 1941. Tennessee State Library and Archives. 
A pontoon boat anchored amid a bed of shore bonnets on Reelfoot Lake, 1969. Tennessee State Library and Archives. 
1818 This beautifully colored map of Tennessee constructed by John Melish from the surveys of John Strothers following the War of 1812. Shows early county lines and Indian boundaries prior to Jackson’s Treaty and other cessions of Indian land after the war, along with some statistical and geological remarks. Western Tennessee is still Chickasaw territory, and the southeastern corner of the state is in Cherokee hands. Melish clearly was working remotely and had not been to Tennessee, as there are several fanciful mistakes such as the eastern tip of the state, the location of Reynoldsburg and the “Earthquake [Reelfoot] Lake,” and numerous misspellings. Certain period features such as Fort Deposit, Southwest Point garrison, and the U.S. Agency for Cherokees are indicated. 
Beautiful color map of Tennessee as it appeared in 1822, soon after the cession by treaty of Chickasaw lands between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers. The map shows the newly formed West Tennessee counties in different colors and short-lived configurations that would change as new counties were formed. It also shows county seats, rivers, and mountains. Recently formed (by the New Madrid earthquakes of 1812-13) Reelfoot Lake appears as a rather fanciful “Wood Lake;” Muscle Shoals in Alabama can also be seen, in addition to some Cherokee lands in southeast Tennessee.
Learn more about the Tennessee State Library and Archives here.
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