US Mint rolls out quarter honoring Georgia barrier island
Can’t get enough of the Georgia coast? Then this could be your good-luck coin.
The U.S. Mint in past weeks released a new quarter into circulation honoring Cumberland Island National Seashore.
It’s the most recent of the mint’s “America the Beautiful Quarters Program” featuring designs that depict national parks and other significant sites around the country. The program began in 2010 with quarters for some of the nation’s most iconic parks including Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.
The back of the Cumberland Island 25-cent piece shows a snowy egret about to take flight amid the island’s celebrated salt marshes. The words “Cumberland Island” and “Georgia” are inscribed around the edge.
Located near the Florida border, Cumberland is the largest and southernmost of Georgia’s barrier islands. The island has no road connecting it to the mainland, and its relative inaccessibility has left the island with little human development, helping to preserve the unique coastal habitat.
Cumberland Island National Seashore, the federally managed park on Cumberland Island, was established by congress in 1972.
Visitors to the island must arrive by boat and have two options for spending the night: National Park Service campsites or a single swanky bed and breakfast housed in a mansion that was once a retreat for the Carnegie family.
According to the Cumberland Island Conservancy, a group dedicated to protecting Cumberland Island, the island is a nesting ground for Loggerhead sea turtles and home to a variety of bird species.
“In the marshes and along the creeks, snowy egrets, great egrets, great blue and little blue herons and small (and not so common) green herons can be easily watched as they feed on aquatic life,” the conservancy’s website notes.
The next quarter slated for release in the line will feature Block Island National Wildlife Refuge in Rhode Island. It’s set to go into circulation in November.