National park quarters Collection
The National Park Quarter Designs
Following the popular 1999-2008 Statehood Quarters program and one-year 2009 D.C. and U.S. Territories quarters program, the United States Mint began issuing commemorative quarters with special reverse designs celebrating national parks and other national sites. From 2010-2021, a park or site is being honored in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five U.S. Territories – Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands. Each national park or site was selected for its natural or historical significance.
Like the Statehood quarters program, the National Park quarters are being minted and issued at the rate of five new designs per year, in approximately ten-week intervals. The coins are being released in the order that the locations were first designated as national sites. Once the scheduled ten-week period of production is over for each issue, no more quarters of that design will be minted for circulation.
The quarter obverse was modified in 1999 as part of the Statehood quarters program.
The obverse side of each quarter continues to feature a smaller restoration of the original Washington quarter portrait, modeled from designer John Flanagan's 1932 plaster. With their regularly-changing designs, these quarters continue to change the face of America's coinage!
Reverse Designs
2010
- Hot Springs National Park (Arkansas)
- Depicts the facade of Hot Springs National Park headquarters in Arkansas, with a fountain in the foreground.
- Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming)
- Features Old Faithful geyser with a bison in the foreground.
- Yosemite National Park (California)
- Shows the vertical granite cliff known as El Capitan.
- Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona)
- Depicts the Colorado River flowing past ancient Nankoweap Delta granaries.
- Mount Hood National Forest (Oregon)
- The scenic splendor of Mount Hood is shown, with beautiful Lost Lake in the foreground.
2011
- Gettysburg National Military Park (Pennsylvania)
- Shows the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Monument.
- Glacier National Park (Montana)
- A mountain goat, the park's symbol, is depicted with Mount Reynolds in the background.
- Olympic National Park (Washington)
- A Roosevelt elk is shown by the Hoh River with Mount Olympus in the background.
- Vicksburg National Military Park (Mississippi)
- Depicts the Civil War ironclad U.S.S. Cairo (the fall of Vicksburg gave control of the river to the Union).
- Chickasaw National Recreation Area (Oklahoma)
- Features the Lincoln Bridge – the first and oldest constructed improvement to the recreation area.
2012
- El Yunque National Forest (Puerto Rico)
- Features a threatened Puerto Rican parrot and endangered Coqui tree frog indigenous to El Yunque National Forest.
- Chaco Culture National Historical Park (New Mexico)
- Shows two kivas (round, subterranean chambers that are thought to have been used for religious ceremonies) of the Chetro Ketl pueblo.
- Acadia National Park (Maine)
- Depicts the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse along some of the park's famed rocky coastline.
- Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park (Hawaii)
- Denali National Park (Alaska)
- Features the park's dramatic landscape, with Mount McKinley in the background and a Dall sheep in the foreground.
2013
- White Mountain National Forest (New Hampshire)
- Depicts Mount Chocorua, one of New Hampshire's most hiked and most photographed mountains.
- Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial (Ohio)
- The dramatic memorial column is shown in the background, with a statue of Commodore Perry in the foreground.
- Great Basin National Park (Nevada)
- Shows the gnarled and ancient Bristlecone pine, and the rocky hillside it grows on inside the park.
- Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine (Maryland)
- Depicts Defenders Day fireworks at Fort McHenry – where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write what became our national anthem during the War of 1812.
- Mount Rushmore National Memorial (South Dakota)
- Shows men completing work on the image of Thomas Jefferson during construction of the mountain sculpture.
2014
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Tennessee)
- Features a log cabin nestled in the mountains, with a hawk flying overhead.
- Shenandoah National Park (Virginia)
- A hiker looks out from the top of Little Stony Man mountain.
- Arches National Park (Utah)
- Shows the park's famed Delicate Arch, with the La Sal mountains in the distance.
- Great Sand Dunes National Park (Colorado)
- Depicts the dramatic sand dunes, the tallest in North America, found inside the park's San Luis valley.
- Everglades National Park (Florida)
- An anhinga and a roseate spoonbill are shown in the park's marshy landscape.
2015
- Homestead National Monument of America (Nebraska)
- Shows ears of wheat flanking a home and water spigot.
- Kisatchie National Forest (Louisiana)
- Depicts a wild turkey flying above bluestem grass with longleaf pine trees in the background.
- Blue Ridge Parkway (North Carolina)
- Features the graceful curvature of the roadway as it hugs the mountainside.
- Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge (Delaware)
- The marshy wetlands of Bombay Hook are shown, with a Great Blue Heron in the foreground and an Egret in the background.
- Saratoga National Historical Park (New York)
- Shows British General John Burgoyne surrendering his sword to General Horatio Gates of the Continental Army at Saratoga, New York.
2016
- Shawnee National Forest (Illinois)
- Shows an up-close view of Camel Rock in Garden of the Gods, with a red-tailed hawk soaring above.
- Shenandoah National Park (Kentucky)
- A frontiersman is shown looking to the west, along with the inscription first doorway to the west.
- Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Dakota)
- Features Theodore Roosevelt on horseback near the Little Missouri River.
- Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (West Virginia)
- Depicts John Brown's Fort – once a federal armory guard and firehouse.
- Fort Moultrie (Fort Sumter National Monument) (South Carolina)
- Shows a sergeant returning the regimental flag to the ramparts as a British ship attacks in the distance.
2017
- Effigy Mounds National Monument (Iowa)
- Features an overhead view of the National Monument's signature "Marching Bear Group".
- Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (District of Columbia)
- Depicts Frederick Douglass seated at a writing desk with his home, Cedar Hill, in the background.
- Ozark National Scenic Riverways (Missouri)
- Alley Mill, a steel roller mill built in the 1890s and once used for converting wheat into flour, is featured.
- Ellis Island National Monument (New Jersey)
- Depicts an immigrant family approaching Ellis Island with expressions of both hope and uncertainty.
- George Rogers Clark National Historical Park (Indiana)
- Shows Clark leading his men through icy Indiana waters in 1779 to take a British fort.
2018
- Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Michigan)
- Features Chapel Rock with the white pine that grows out of its top.
- Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (Wisconsin)
- Depicts a kayaker near the sea caves at Devils Island with a lighthouse in the background.
- Voyageurs National Park (Minnesota)
- A common loon is shown, with rock cliffs and forests in the background.
- Cumberland Island National Seashore (Georgia)
- Shows a snowy egret with its wings spread, perched on a branch before a marsh.
- Block Island National Wildlife Refuge (Rhode Island)
- A black-crowned night-heron flies over the beach, with a lighthouse in the background.
2019
- Lowell National Historical Park (Massachusetts)
- Features a female textile worker at a power loom with its prominent circular bobbin battery.
- American Memorial Park (Northern Mariana Islands)
- Features an indigenous woman looking out at the Flag Circle and Court of Honor.
- War in the Pacific National Historical Park (Guam)
- Features American troops coming ashore at Asan Bay.
- San Antonio Missions National Historical Park (Texas)
- Features mission symbols: wheat, arches and a bell, a lion, and the San Antonio River.
- Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness (Idaho)
- features a piloted drift boat on the rushing river amid rock formations and towering evergreens.
2020
- National Park of American Samoa (American Samoa)
- Shows a Samoan fruit bat mother and her pup.
- Weir Farm National Historic Site (Connecticut)
- Portrays an artist painting outside Julian Alden Weir's rustic studio at Weir Farm.
- Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve (U.S. Virgin Islands)
- Depicts a young red mangrove tree to represent the park's endangered and protected mangrove forests.
- Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park (Vermont)
- Shows a young girl planting a Norway spruce seedling near an established tree.
- Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (Kansas)
- Shows a Regal Fritillary butterfly before Big Bluestem and Indian grasses.
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