Our area features a perfect blend of rolling farmland and heavily forested hills with many creeks, rivers and lakes. Nestled amongst this natural beauty are the historic towns of Fredericktown and Marquand, each offering a unique experience to adventurers in Madison County, Missouri. Although referred to as the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, the region is actually a high and deeply dissected plateau. Geologically, the area is a broad dome around the Saint Francois Mountains. The Ozark Highlands area, covering nearly 47,000 square miles (122,000 km2), is by far the most extensive mountainous region between the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains. Together the Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains form an area known as the U.S. Interior Highlands and are sometimes referred to collectively. For example, the ecoregion called Ozark Mountain Forests includes the Ouachita Mountains, although the Arkansas River valley and the Ouachitas, both south of the Boston Mountains, are not usually considered part of the Ozarks.