Briarwood's Window on Cape Girardeau's Regional History

Readers are treated to a colorful insight into the pioneer settlement of Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri. The book features a color photographic tour of Briarwood Manor - a colonial structure situated high and eminent on the slope of Mount Tabor overlooking the city and the Mississippi River. The form and fashion of the interior with its grand staircase is stunningly beautiful. It includes a fireplace added from the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis. Briarwood Manor is located in the middle of the American Pioneer District Portal - this area opened the floodgate of American settlers pouring into Southeast Missouri. You will be treated to information about a still standing 1795 log cabin which served as an available land information center for newly arriving settlers. You will learn about the 1797 Elmwood Plantation being given a land grant of over seven square miles. Elmwood Manor is a replica of Dalhousie Castle - about 1000 years old and still standing in Scotland. Briarwood Manor's history gives an insight into the circa 1900 development of education, roads, railroads and drainage of swampland that lifted Southeast Missouri into the modern era.