Quarter featuring Pictured Rocks launches next month

Washington — A new quarter depicting the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore will be launched next month in the Upper Peninsula community of Munising.

The quarter is the 41st to be released by the U.S. Mint as part of the America the Beautiful Quarters Program that is honoring 56 national parks and other national sites over 12 years.

The quarters are being issued in the order in which the national sites were established. Pictured Rocks was created in 1966.

The quarter depicts what’s known as Chapel Rock, a remnant of Cambrian age sandstone, and the white pine tree that grows atop it.

The park runs along the coast of Lake Superior for about 40 miles, including beaches, 300-foot-high sand dunes and 15 miles of sandstone cliffs up to 200-feet high. The name “Pictured Rocks” is for the colorful mineral stain that mark the face of the cliffs.

The Mint will host a coin forum at 6 p.m. Feb. 6 at the Munising Township Office, E9630 Prospect St. in Wetmore, MI 49895.

The quarter’s official launch will be held at 10 a.m. the next day at Mather Elementary School Auditorium in Munising.

Fourteen years ago, the U.S. Mint issued the Michigan quarter early in 2004 as part of its 50 State Quarters® Program. It was the 26th quarter issued in the program because Michigan became the 26th state admitted into the Union on Jan. 26, 1837.

The Michigan quarter, inscribed “Great Lakes State,” depicted the outline of the state and the Great Lakes system.

mburke@detroitnews.com