America the Beautiful Quarters News Roundup

For today, I wanted to do something different for Coin Update. As readers will know, earlier this week the US Mint announced the 56 sites that will be used for the upcoming America the Beautiful Quarters (or previously referred to as National Park Quarters). Since all sites for the next 12 years worth of quarters were announced in a single day, a big burst of both national and local news activity followed. For today’s roundup, I will provide links to many of the different articles that have been written about the new series.

The round up begins with coverage and announcements of the entire series, followed by local coverage of each individual site. I’ve left out articles that primarily just reiterate the US Mint or Associated Press release or only give a brief account. The articles linked provide more in depth local reactions and information about the site or potential design. Many of the sites did not seem to generate individual coverage, particularly for releases later in the series.

While most locations seem very proud of the selected sites, Massachusetts presents an interesting story. Citizens voted overwhelmingly for the Gloucester Fisherman, but it was not selected since it is not a federally maintained site. A similar situation occurred for New York, which had initially wanted to depict Niagara Falls. This location was ineligible because it is a State Park rather than a National Park. A little mentioned aspect of the new series is that it is much more aligned with federal aspect of the sites than host jurisdictions. In fact, the design process now includes involvement from a federal official selected by the head of the federal entity controlling the site and the US Secretary of the Interior.

Before the broader list of links, I would like to provide a link to an article that I wrote for the New York Times shortly after the legislation for the new quarter series was signed. Although I did enjoy the 50 State Quarters series, I think reusing the same concept over and over again becomes dull. With no disrespect to the sites selected for the impending quarter series, I would rather see a single design that could become an iconic and lasting symbol of our generation than another collection of 56 designs representing 56 different things. NYT published the article with the title Change We Don’t Need. I had originally titled the article “Too Much Change,” which was more to my point.

At any rate, another series of quarters with rotating designs is upon us. Here are some links for the new America the Beautiful Quarters Program and the individual quarters to be released from 2010 to 2021…

America the Beautiful Quarters Program

United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters Program Announced – USMint.gov

These new quarters will honor some of our most revered, treasured and beautiful national sites – majestic and historic places located throughout the United States and its territories that truly make us “America the Beautiful.”

New Quarters to Feature National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges – DOI.gov

The quarters highlight the diversity and magnificence of 48 National Park Service sites and two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges cared for by the Department of the Interior as well as six national forests administered by the Department of Agriculture.

U.S. Mint will roll out national park quarters beginning in 2010 – USA Today (Associated Press)

America the Beautiful Quarters Program – Mint News Blog

America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins – Mint News Blog

U. S. Mint Announces Sites Selected for the America the Beautiful Quarters Program – National Parks Traveler

There’s been plenty of speculation about which locations would be selected, and the curiosity hasn’t been limited to coin collectors. Local chambers of commerce, state tourism directors and others in the travel and business community have been awaiting the announcement—and look forward to the eventual release of the coins themselves. What’s their interest? For sites which are not as well known, perhaps it will be a case of “If you mint it, they will come.”

2010 Arkansas Quarter – Hot Springs National Park

Hot Springs to be featured first on new quarters – NPR

Hot Springs promoter Steve Arrison, the head of the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, sees the coins as another marketing tool for the city of 40,000. “The only thing that would make it better would be if we could put our Web site on the quarter.”

2010 Wyoming Quarter – Yellowstone National Park

2010 California Quarter – Yosemite National Park

2010 Arizona Quarter – Grand Canyon National Park

U.S. Mint program salutes Grand Canyon – AZ Central

“The whole campaign will certainly increase awareness of national parks and will increase visitation, but it will be hard to know about the incremental impact of the quarters.”

Grand Canyon among first national parks to be featured on new quarters

Gov. Jan Brewer’s office had an easy decision, spokeswoman Kelsey Bullington said. “The Grand Canyon was the first choice because it is one of the seven natural wonders of the world,” she said. “It would be hard to highlight Arizona’s national parks without it.”

2010 Oregon Quarter – Mt. Hood National Forest

2011 Pennsylvania Quarter – Gettysburg National Military Park

Gettysburg National Military Park To Be Featured in the U.S. Mint’s ‘America the Beautiful’ Quarters Program – Fox Business

“Gettysburg National Military Park – the nation’s most visited Civil War battlefield — is deeply moving and yet extremely beautiful park and a true national and Pennsylvania treasure,” Governor Rendell said.

2011 Montana Quarter – Glacier National Park

Glacier Park to be honored on shiny new quarter – Missoulian

It surely won’t be easy compressing a million acres of alpine wilderness into a circle just one inch in diameter, but that’s precisely what the U.S. Mint intends to do.

2011 Washington Quarter – Olympic National Park

2011 Mississippi Quarter – Vicksburg National Military Park

2011 Oklahoma Quarter – Chickasaw National Recreation Area

Chickasaw Recreation Area Featured on Quarter – Tulsa Business

A landmark in natural resource conservation, Chickasaw National Recreation Area is the first and only national park area in the U.S. established at the request of an Indian Tribe, the Chickasaw Nation.

2012 Puerto Rico Quarter – El Yunque National Forest

2012 New Mexico Quarter – Chaco Culture National Historical Park

New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon to get commemorative quarter – Las Cruces Sun News

Chaco Canyon was a major center of Puebloan culture between AD 850 and 1250. The Chacoan sites are part of the homeland of Pueblo Indian peoples of New Mexico, the Hopi Indians of Arizona, and the Navajo Indians of the Southwest.

2012 Maine Quarter – Acadia National Park

2012 Hawaii Quarter – Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

2012 Alaska Quarter – Denali National Park

2013 New Hampshire Quarter – White Mountain National Forest

2013 Ohio Quarter – Perrya€’s Victory and International Peace Memorial

2013 Nevada Quarter – Great Basin National Park

Great Basin National Park will be on the back of some U.S. quarters in 2013 – Reno Gazette Journal

The 77,000-acre park includes Lehman Cave, one of the largest limestone solution caverns in the western United States, Wheeler Peak and 48 miles of streams.

2013 Maryland Quarter – Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine

2013 South Dakota Quarter – Mount Rushmore National Memorial

2014 Tennessee Quarter – Great Smoky Mountains National Park

New Tennessee quarter will feature Smoky Mountains – Memphis Commercial Appeal

“This honor comes at the perfect time as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the park’s dedication,” said Bredesen. “An astounding 10 million visitors from all over the world enjoy the Great Smoky Mountains every year.”

US Mint Selects Great Smokies for New Quarter Design – NPS.gov

Whatever illustration is chosen to depict this national park, it will serve to represent the Smokies lush forests, abundant plant and animal life, awe-inspiring scenery, and the Park’s rich Southern Appalachian mountain culture.

2014 Virginia Quarter – Shenandoah National Park

U.S. Mint to Feature SNP on New Quarter – WHSV

The park protects some of the most beautiful scenery in the state and provides many recreational experiences for over a million visitors each year.

2014 Utah Quarter – Arches National Park

2014 Colorado Quarter – Great Sand Dunes National Park

Sand Dunes to grace quarter in 2014 – Pueblo Chieftain

“There’s no question that will put us on the map,” Superintendent Art Hutchinson said. “That quarter will circulate for many years in people’s pockets.”

Great Sand Dunes to grace Colo. quarter – The Denver Post

Of Colorado’s four national parks, Great Sand Dunes is the third-most visited. But a spokeswoman for the state’s most-visited preserve, Rocky Mountain National Park, didn’t profess any resentment at the younger sibling getting the big spotlight.
2014 Florida Quarter – Everglades National Park

2015 Nebraska Quarter – Homestead National Monument of America

Homestead Monument gets own quarter – Omaha.com

“Every citizen in the nation will at one time have a quarter in their hand that says ‘Homestead National Monument of America,’ and we’re excited about the interest it will create in the monument and the story we tell here,’’ Superintendent Mark Engler said Thursday.

Homestead to be coined – Beatrice Daily Sun

We are going to work through the process to find a design that will encourage people to find out more about Homestead National Monument and the Homestead Act.

2015 Louisiana Quarter – Kisatchie National Forest

2015 North Carolina Quarter – Blue Ridge Parkway

2015 Delaware Quarter – Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Bombay Hook Wildlife Refuge selected as Delaware’s quarter in new U.S. Mint offering

It surprises many to learn that the 50 State Quarters Program will net over $2.7 billion in federal revenues,” said Rep. Castle. “I am hopeful that the America the Beautiful series will spur similar interest, and generate tourism for many of our country’s most treasured sites.

2015 New York Quarter – Saratoga National Historical Park

Mint says law won’t allow Niagara Falls on new quarter series – The Buffalo News

Niagara Falls is one of the world’s most iconic natural landmarks. Gov. David A. Paterson and Sen. Charles E. Schumer think the cascading falls would make an ideal pick to grace New York’s quarter in the upcoming America’s Beautiful National Parks quarters series. But the U.S. Mint says no.

Quarter to honor Saratoga battles – Times Union

The illustration on the back of the coin will be based on an iconic painting of British Gen. John Burgoyne handing American Gen. Horatio Gates a sword after being defeated over two battles in September and October of 1777, Saratoga Park Ranger Joe Craig said.

2016 Illinois Quarter – Shawnee National Forest

2016 Kentucky Quarter – Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

2016 West Virginia Quarter – Harpers Ferry National Historical Park

2016 North Dakota Quarter – Theodore Roosevelt National Park

2016 South Carolina Quarter – Fort Moultrie (Fort Sumter National Monument)

Fort Moultrie to grace quarter – The State

After years of playing second fiddle to the ever-popular Fort Sumter, South Carolina’s landmark Fort Moultrie is finally getting its own star turn.

2017 Iowa Quarter – Effigy Mounds National Monument

2017 District of Columbia Quarter – Frederick Douglass National Historic Site

2017 Missouri Quarter – Ozark National Scenic Riverways

2017 New Jersey Quarter – Ellis Island National Monument (Statue of Liberty)

2017 Indiana Quarter – George Rogers Clark National Historical Park

2018 Michigan Quarter – Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Lake Superior shoreline to be featured on new quarters – SooToday

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a crown jewel of Michigan, and now we can showcase our stunning site to the world.

2018 Wisconsin Quarter – Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

Apostle Islands to be Honored with Quarter – Northland’s News Center

Not only are the Apostle Islands one our state’s most beautiful destinations, but they are a testament to our history of stewardship and the bright future ahead of us.

2018 Minnesota Quarter – Voyageurs National Park

Minnesota’s Voyageurs to get own U.S. coin

An open question is what goes on the other side of George Washington’s head to portray those parks… Ward and his staff suggested a loon… Suggestion No. 2 was a grand canot with a coureur des bois or two in it

2018 Georgia Quarter – Cumberland Island National Seashore

Cumberland Island to adorn new quarter series – Jacksonville.com

With fewer than 50,000 visitors a year, Cumberland isn’t the best known park in the state – Okefenokee has an estimated 400,000 visitors a year. But Brantley said the U.S. Mint wanted a diversity of sites depicted on the coins.

2018 Rhode Island Quarter – Block Island National Wildlife Refuge

2019 Massachusetts Quarter – Lowell National Historical Park

Feds nix ‘Man at the Wheel’ for state quarter honor – Gloucester Times

Ignoring the wishes of 109,817 Massachusetts online voters, the federal government has rejected Gloucester’s Man at the Wheel for engraving on the back of a series of U.S. quarters.

Editorial: Gloucester Fisherman booted off state quarter – Wicked Local

Of the 245,000 online votes cast for the long list of nominated landmarks around the state, the Fishermen’s Memorial earned 109,000 votes.Second-place Lowell National Historic Park pulled in merely 26,000 votes.

2019 Northern Mariana Islands Quarter – American Memorial Park

2019 Guam Quarter – War in the Pacific National Historical Park

2019 Texas Quarter – San Antonio Missions National Historical Park

San Antonio missions to be used for state quarters – Examiner.com

“It’s difficult to choose just one image to represent the span of history in the Lone Star State,” Perry said. “I’m proud that San Antonio Missions State Park has been chosen to represent our state in this national program, and I look forward to seeing these new coins in circulation.”

2019 Idaho Quarter – Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness

2020 American Samoa Quarter – National Park of American Samoa

2020 Connecticut Quarter – Weir Farm National Historic Site

Heads or … Weir Farm? – Stamford Advocate

Leading American impressionist artist J. Alden Weir bought the farm in 1882 and the home and surrounding studios were used by dozens of artists.

Weir Farm will be honored on U.S. Mint’s new Connecticut quarter – Ridgefield Pres

Currently undergoing an extensive renovation, the 60-acre farmstead was home to three generations of American artists.

2020 U.S. Virgin Islands Quarter – Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve

2020 Vermont Quarter – Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park

Vt. to be featured on 2020 quarter – Rutland Herald

“It’s the thought that counts, and with something as universal as a coin that is used throughout the country, it’s nice to know a piece of Vermont will be represented,” he said.

2020 Kansas Quarter – Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

2021 Alabama Quarter – Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site

New quarter to feature Tuskegee Airmen NHS – The Tuskegee News

Featuring this site on a commemorative quarter will help us spread the word far and wide that Alabama is so proud to be the home of the Tuskegee Airmen and that here Americans can come to learn their incredible story.