Next U.S. Quarters to Feature National Parks

States have been featured on quarter-dollar coins. National Parks are next

Beginning in 1999, the US Mint struck the wildly popular 50 States Quarters series that eventually was extended to include the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories represented in Congress by non-voting representatives (Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). George Washington remained on the face of the coin, while the parade of states and other jurisdictions were on the reverse. Beginning this year, the Mint will begin a 12-year program of releasing quarters depicting 56 of our National Parks and other splendid public lands.

The first five are Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas; Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming; Yosemite National Park, California; Grand Canyon National Park, California; and Mt. Hood National Forest, Oregon. Having these coins in your pocket or purse won't replace the experience of actually traveling to these lands that we collectively own, but they do provide a nice incentive, memory or learning opportunity.