The world-famous Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which is located on the island of Hawaii – the Big Island – will be the subject of the fourth quarter out of a set of five to be released by the United States mint over the course of the year. The set began being released in 2010 and includes parks from all over the United States. Kilauea’s quarter will be released on August 27th.
The set of quarters is called “America The Beautiful” and will include 56 other quarters which feature other beautiful landmarks found in the United States. Other parks that will be featured this year will be; Maine’s Acadia National Park, New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historic Park, Alaska’s Denali National Park and Reserve, and Puerto Rico’s El Yunque National Forest. The first quarter of the year to be released will be Puerto Rico’s El Yunque National Forest.
The image on the quarter featuring Kilauea is one of the east rift zone erupting, and includes the inscription “Hawaii Volcanoes, Hawaii 2012″. The design was created and sculpted by U.S. Mint sculptor-engraver Charles L. Vickers.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is where Kilauea is located, the park was established August 1, 1916 and includes just over 333,000 acres of land. The park is maintained by the National Park Service and has been the site of many volcanic studies due to its lengthy period of eruption.
Kilauea recently celebrated the anniversary of 29 years of eruption on January 4th. The volcano has taken away and given back to the land since it began erupting in 1983. While it destroyed roads, homes and structures that were in the path of lava, it also added some 500 acres to the size of the Big Island.
