America the Beautiful Quarters Program

Today, the United States Mint announced the 56 sites that will be featured as part of America the Beautiful Quarters Program. The legislation which authorized the program had stipulated that the Secretary of the Treasury must select the complete register of sites with 270 days of enactment. One site was selected from each state, the District of Columbia, and each US Territory.

The sites will be featured on the reverse design of quarters in the order they were first established as a National Site. Five different designs will be released each year starting in 2010. One design will be released in the final year of the program in 2021.

The five America the Beautiful Quarters to be released in 2010 are the following:

Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Yosemite National Park, California
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Mr. Hood National Forest, Oregon

The obverse of the coin will feature a portrait of George Washington. This will be a restored version of the portrait used on the Washington Quarter first released in 1932, "including subtle details and the beauty of the original model." The State Quarters and US Territories Quarters had used a redesigned version of the original obverse executed by William Cousins.

On one of my earlier posts about the upcoming quarter series, I had raised the question of what the series would ultimately be called. The authorizing legislation was entitled "America's Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008." On this basis, the name "National Park Quarters" was being used by most people, although the US Mint seemed to be favoring the more inclusive term "National Sites Quarters."

America the Beautiful Quarters is somewhat lengthy, but covers all of the subjects to be depicted on the quarters from National Parks and Forests to Wildlife Refuges and other sites. I also think this name provides more positive connotations than the other alternatives. It highlights the subjects as places of beauty, rather than the fact that they are sites controlled by a federal entity.

The US Mint has already created subscription programs for the new quarter series. Under the subscription program, the products will be sent to customers as they become available. The programs include Quarter Proof Sets (clad and silver), Two Roll Quarter Sets, 100-coin bags (Philadelphia, Denver, or both), and 1,000-coin bags (Philadelphia, Denver, or both).

Scanning through some of the sites, I came up with a few points of interest. Yellowstone National Park is not listed first, even though it was the world's First National Park. Hot Springs National Park was apparently established as a reserve in 1832, which predates Yellowstone by 40 years. Hot Spring Reservation later became a National Park in 1922.

Some subjects will be repeats of the previous State Quarter designs, such as the Grand Canyon for Arizona and Mount Rushmore for South Dakota. The Statue of Liberty, which had been depicted on the New York Quarter, will be featured on New Jersey's quarter this time around.

Lastly, there will only be one design in the final year of the program featuring the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site. This would seem to give the design five times more emphasis than the other designs of the series, provided it is minted and issued for the entire year. I think most people had been believed that six coins would be issued in the final year of the program (as is the case with this year's quarters).

Any other comments about the program or site selection from readers? Please post them in the comments.

The complete schedule for America the Beautiful Quarters Program is listed below.

Year	Location	Site	Federal Entity
2010	Arkansas	Hot Springs National Park	NPS
2010	Wyoming	Yellowstone National Park	NPS
2010	California	Yosemite National Park	NPS
2010	Arizona	Grand Canyon National Park	NPS
2010	Oregon	Mt. Hood National Forest	USFS
2011	Pennsylvania	Gettysburg National Military Park	NPS
2011	Montana	Glacier National Park	NPS
2011	Washington	Olympic National Park	NPS
2011	Mississippi	Vicksburg National Military Park	NPS
2011	Oklahoma	Chickasaw National Recreation Area	NPS
2012	Puerto Rico	El Yunque National Forest	USFS
2012	New Mexico	Chaco Culture National Historical Park	NPS
2012	Maine	Acadia National Park	NPS
2012	Hawaii	Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park	NPS
2012	Alaska	Denali National Park	NPS
2013	New Hampshire	White Mountain National Forest	USFS
2013	Ohio	Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial	NPS
2013	Nevada	Great Basin National Park	NPS
2013	Maryland	Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine	NPS
2013	South Dakota	Mount Rushmore National Memorial	NPS
2014	Tennessee	Great Smoky Mountains National Park	NPS
2014	Virginia	Shenandoah National Park	NPS
2014	Utah	Arches National Park	NPS
2014	Colorado	Great Sand Dunes National Park	NPS
2014	Florida	Everglades National Park	NPS
2015	Nebraska	Homestead National Monument of America	NPS
2015	Louisiana	Kisatchie National Forest	USFS
2015	North Carolina	Blue Ridge Parkway	NPS
2015	Delaware	Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge	US F&W
2015	New York	Saratoga National Historical Park	NPS
2016	Illinois	Shawnee National Forest	USFS
2016	Kentucky	Cumberland Gap National Historical Park	NPS
2016	West Virginia	Harpers Ferry National Historical Park	NPS
2016	North Dakota	Theodore Roosevelt National Park	NPS
2016	South Carolina	Fort Moultrie (Fort Sumter National Monument)	NPS
2017	Iowa	Effigy Mounds National Monument	NPS
2017	District of Columbia	Frederick Douglass National Historic Site	NPS
2017	Missouri	Ozark National Scenic Riverways	NPS
2017	New Jersey	Ellis Island National Monument (Statue of Liberty)	NPS
2017	Indiana	George Rogers Clark National Historical Park	NPS
2018	Michigan	Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore	NPS
2018	Wisconsin	Apostle Islands National Lakeshore	NPS
2018	Minnesota	Voyageurs National Park	NPS
2018	Georgia	Cumberland Island National Seashore	NPS
2018	Rhode Island	Block Island National Wildlife Refuge	US F&W
2019	Massachusetts	Lowell National Historical Park	NPS
2019	Northern Mariana Islands	American Memorial Park	NPS
2019	Guam	War in the Pacific National Historical Park	NPS
2019	Texas	San Antonio Missions National Historical Park	NPS
2019	Idaho	Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness	USFS
2020	American Samoa	National Park of American Samoa	NPS
2020	Connecticut	Weir Farm National Historic Site	NPS
2020	U.S. Virgin Islands	Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve	NPS
2020	Vermont	Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park	NPS
2020	Kansas	Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve	NPS
2021	Alabama	Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site	NPS