 Road access to this small part of Kentucky on the Mississippi River (populated by only 18 people ) requires a trip through Tennessee.The epicenter of the powerful 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes was near this area, even causing the river to flow backwards in some places.Though the series of quakes did change the area geologically and affect the (small number of) inhabitants of the area at the time, the Kentucky Bend was formed because of a surveying error, not the New Madrid earthquake.