Cape museum hosts 'French Heritage' talk Saturday

Cape Girardeau Heritage Museum, formerly Cape River Heritage Museum, will host "French Heritage Corridor Presentation" at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 19.

Tandy Thompson of St. Louis, ambassador of the French Heritage Corridor, is featured speaker.

Admission is free, and the event is open to the public.

Cape Girardeau's 18th-century origins are decidedly French — the city's namesake, Jean Pierre Girardeau, was a Frenchman, and the city's founder, Louis de Lorimier, was a French-Canadian hailing originally from Montreal.

Lorimier's original "red house" was constructed in what is now downtown Cape Girardeau in 1797 and was destroyed by a tornado in 1850. Today's Red House Interpretative Center stands near the original Lorimier home.

Cape Girardeau Heritage Museum is at 538 Independence St. and may be reached at (573) 334-0405.