Every year from 2010 sees the mint release five quarters honoring our National parks and sites. The obverse of all the coins depict George Washington based on his original portrait done for the 1932 Washington quarter. The reverse depicts stunning designs representing a location from each of the 50 states, five U.S. territories and the District of Colombia in the order they were deemed National parks or sites. This year would see the 11th year of the release of these beautiful coins.

The coins celebrate the National Park of American Samoa, Connecticut’s Weir Farm National Historic Site, U.S. Virgin Islands’ Salt Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, Vermont’s Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park and Kansas’s Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. We would like to quickly touch on each of the above 5 coins getting released this year. CSN blog will have detailed posts later in the year for each of them.

National Park of American Samoa

The American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States of America and is in the South Pacific Ocean. The National Park of American Samoa consists of three islands - Tutuila, Ofu, and Ta‘ū. The park was established in 1988 and it preserves 13,500 acres of land and coral reef. The main idea behind the National Park was to protect the natural habitat of the flying fox (fruit-bats) and the rain forest. The 51st ATB quarter honoring this National park has a reverse design that shows a Samoan fruit bat mother hanging in a tree with her pup.

Connecticut’s Weir Farm National Historic site

The 153-acre Weir Farm was obtained by American impressionist painter J. Alden Weir as a fee from Erwin Davis, a New York art collector for a painting! Weir established the farm as his home for the rest of his life and most of his works were based on his life in the farm. Many notable artists of the day used to visit and paint their impression of the Weir grounds. After becoming a National historic site in 1990, there are ongoing artist-in-residence programs. The Weir Farm Art Center (formerly the Weir Farm Trust) has hosted more than 150 artists for month long stays at the site. The 52nd ATB quarter honoring this National Historic site has a reverse design that shows an artist wearing a painter’s smock, painting outside Julian Alden Weir’s studio at Weir Farm.

U.S. Virgin Islands’ Salt Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve

The U.S. Virgin Islands’ Salt Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve is situated on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It preserves the ‘Columbus landing site’ marked by Fort Salé which is said to be where the Columbus expedition members landed on United States territory. The Ecological Preserve protects a bioluminescent bay, mangrove forests, estuarine and marine environments. The 53rd ATB quarter honoring this National Historical park and Ecological preserve has a reverse design that shows a red mangrove tree in an early stage of its life cycle as it evolves from a very small plant to an adult tree.

Vermont’s Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park

The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park preserves the managed forest and the progressive dairy farm set up by Frederick Billings in the 1890’s. The park is in West-side of Vermont, North-west of Woodstock village. It features the Billings Farm, a working farm, the George Perkins Marsh Boyhood Home (home of the 1st owner Charles Marsh) which was renovated later by Billings. It was later owned by the Rockefellers who transferred it to the federal government in 1992. The 54th ATB quarter honoring this National Historical park has a reverse design that shows a young girl completing the planting of a Norway spruce seedling near an established tree, continuing the life cycle of the forest.

Kansas’s Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

The Tallgrass Prairie Nation Preserve is in the Flint hills region of Kansas. What was miles and miles of Tallgrass prairie in the 18th century is now less than 4% of the North American continent. Huge herds of the American Bison or buffalo was the most common sight 200 years back in these prairies. The count of the bison has dwindled to a few thousands this century because of indiscriminate hunting. Other animals common to the Tallgrass prairie are the elks, deer, antelopes, grizzly bears and wolves.

The 55th ATB quarter honoring this National Preserve has a reverse design that depicts a skyward view of a Regal Fritillary butterfly against a backdrop of Big Bluestem and Indian grasses, iconic to Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.

This entry was posted in General on January 23, 2020 by lavanya kannan