Cape Girardeau: Discover Culture and Nature

Visitors to Cape Girardeau can discover the area through its history as well as its trails and natural areas. Museums, historic buildings, murals, and outdoor activities offer different ideas for planning your day. When choosing a vacation rental, it helps to first consider whether culture, nature, or a mix of both will shape your stay.

History in Museums, Buildings, and Murals

At the Crisp Museum, you can explore historical exhibitions and fine art galleries. At the Crossroads Theatre, the museum shows a video about the heritage of southeast Missouri, as well as the people and land of the region. Admission is free. Check for current visitor information before your trip.

Historic buildings and places also give the city’s history a tangible presence. The Glenn House is a restored historic museum in Cape Girardeau and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Main--Spanish Commercial Historic District was added to the register in 2008. Fort D, in turn, is the only surviving one of four Civil War forts that protected Cape Girardeau from a Confederate attack.

Old St. Vincent’s Church is a restored Catholic church in the Gothic Revival style, with 15th-century Italian Renaissance architecture. It is designated a “Chapel of Ease” and hosts religious and cultural events throughout the year. The range of historical topics thus extends from architectural history and church architecture to the military events that affected Cape Girardeau.

Murals tell history in a different way. At 1,100 feet long, the Mississippi River Tales Mural, with its 24 colorful panels, is a visual history book about Cape Girardeau’s heritage. The Missouri Wall of Fame has 45 panels featuring 47 well-known Missourians. The Mississippi Riverfront Mural greets people walking along the floodwall on the riverfront with the words “Welcome to Cape Girardeau, Missouri.” The Cape Girardeau Heritage Museum shares the city’s roots as a landing on the Mississippi and the life of the river.

Trails, Woods, and Nature Watching

There are activities with different focuses for getting active. The paved Cape LaCroix Recreation Trail is a route for walking, running, biking, rollerblading, skating, and skateboarding. The Cape La Croix Hiking/Biking Trail runs through the Cape Woods Conservation Area. This is a small bottomland forest and a heavily visited natural area within the city.

White Oak Trace offers two miles of trails through oak-hickory forests and bottomland forests. Along the way are sinkholes and a small man-made swamp. The landscape around the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center is characterized by rolling terrain with oak-hickory forests and a restored swamp with wildflowers and sedges. Visitors can watch migratory warblers, vireos, thrushes, and waterbirds and shorebirds there.

One specific option for young anglers is the accessible Kids Fishing Pond, where children under 16 can fish for a variety of species. Families can combine time outdoors with a clearly stated age limit; including this in your plans can also help take the children’s interests into account.

Plan Your Stay Around Your Interests

When looking for a vacation rental in Cape Girardeau, you can start with the experiences you have planned. Would you like to focus on museums, architectural history, and Mississippi heritage, or are trails, woodland landscapes, and birdwatching higher on your list? A combination is also possible. If you’re traveling with children, the age limit at the Kids Fishing Pond can be another specific factor to consider. When choosing accommodation, then check whether its location suits the places you actually plan to visit.

Discover more destinations: Altenburg.

Go to the main travel overview: Cape Girardeau County.