The U.S. Mint announced the final design for the 2018 Block Island National Wildlife Refuge quarter on August 1, 2017 at the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money in Denver. Featuring the 5th and final new National Park quarter design for 2018, the Block Island coin will depict a black-crowned night-heron flying above the beach at Cow Cove with a view towards Sandy Point and the North Light lighthouse. Designed by Chris Costello of the U.S. Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program, the reverse will also bear the inscriptions block island, rhode island, 2018 and e pluribus unum.
The Block Island National Wildlife Refuge is located about 12 miles off the southern coast of Rhode Island and is a critical migratory bird stopover on the Atlantic flyway visited each year by over 70 different species of songbirds. Now comprising 127 acres on Block Island, the refuge was founded in 1973 on land transferred by the U.S. Coast Guard. The refuge is most visited for bird watching during the migratory Fall season, however Block Island is a popular destination for bird watchers, photographers and sport fishermen throughout the year.
