September 24, 2015 – 7:09 am
The new Bombay Hook National Park quarter, fourth issue of 2015 and 29th in the series, is now in circulation. On Friday, September 18th, the official launch ceremony for the new quarter took place at the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center in Smyrna, Delaware. Considered the gateway to Bombay Hook’s 16,000 acres of wildlife, the small town of Smyrna was founded in 1716.
Children received new Bombay Hook quarters, featuring the Great Blue Heron in the park’s wetlands, after the launch ceremony. The 2015 series quarters honor some of America’s more interesting national parks – Homestead, Kisatchie, Blue Ridge Parkway and, now with this release, Bombay Hook. Update your collection today with new Bombay Hook National Park Quarters.
August 31, 2015 – 9:33 am
Saratoga Monument, Saratoga Historical Park
Saratoga National Historical Park in New York commemorates the site of the first significant American victory of the Revolutionary War. On October 17, 1777, British General John Burgoyne surrendered his entire army to General Horatio Gates of the Continental Army. The Battle of Saratoga is considered the turning point of the American Revolution – renewing the patriots’ hopes for independence and convincing the French to ally with the Americans against the British.
The historic park is comprised of three separate units – the four-square mile battlefield along the banks of the Hudson River, the General Philip Schuyler House which the American general rebuilt after the British burned it to the ground during their retreat, and the Saratoga Monument, a 155-foot high obelisk honoring the American victory.
The Visitor Center at the battlefield offers an orientation film and several displays, while the site of the battle features ten exhibit stops along a 9-mile route. The restored Schuyler House provides a glimpse into colonial life with free guided tours, and the Saratoga Monument can be climbed on an interior staircase for impressive views of the historic battlefield area.
More information on National Park Service: Saratoga Historical Park
Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge quarter design
In the summer of 2014, the U.S. Mint revealed the final design for Delaware’s Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge quarter. As the fourth release for 2015, this beautiful quarter will feature the Great Blue Heron in the foreground and Egret in the background. The Great Blue Heron can be found year around in the park’s meadows and wetlands.
Standing about 3 to 4½ feet tall, Great Blue Herons are expert fishers. They wait patiently until fish come in range of their long necks and then quickly thrust their sharp bills into the water to spear them. These interesting birds live in colonies and usually nest in tall trees, but they can also be found in low shrubs or on the ground, if an area is predator-free.
Joel Iskowitz created the quarter’s reverse design and Phebe Hemphill sculpted it. The inscriptions read: name of the site, bombay hook, delaware; year of issue, 2015; and the motto, e pluribus unum.
This handsome quarter goes with the 1999 Delaware Statehood Quarter, which also featured Delaware, the park’s home state. As 29th in the series overall, the Bombay Hook quarter will be the fourth coin for 2015.
The new Blue Ridge Parkway quarter, 28th issue of the series and the third design for 2015, is now in circulation. On June 25, 2015, the official launch ceremony for the new Blue Ridge quarter took place at the Pack Square Park in Asheville, NC.
After the ceremony, a coin exchange was held where attendees were able to get $10 rolls of the new quarters at face value. This issue shows the graceful curvature of the roadway as it hugs the mountainside. A cluster of American dogwood (North Carolina’s state flower) adorns the foreground. Add the new Blue Ridge quarters to your collection now.
Candidate designs for the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge quarter
In February 2014, the Commission of Fine Arts met to review eight designs for the reverse of the 2015 Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge quarter. All eight designs featured birds in the marshy wetlands. Three of them showed birds in flight as the dominant feature.
As a pristine, and one of the largest unaltered tidal saltwater marshes in the mid-Atlantic area, Bombay Hook attracts millions of birds annually. During the fall and winter various ducks, Canadian and snow geese make the area their home. Winter is also the time eagles begin nesting. In the spring, horseshoe crabs venture ashore to lay eggs, songbirds return, and whitetail deer fawns can be seen. Herons and egrets are most common in the summer and fall. Truly this park is a nature lover’s paradise.
