Cumberland Gap National Historical Park Quarter

The second quarter dollar to be released in 2016 from the US Mint will be the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park Quarter.  This will be the thirty-second of 56 new quarters to be released as part of the United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters® Program.

Each quarter has a unique reverse design that represents the national site the quarter is honoring.  The design candidates for the 2016 quarters should be released sometime in late 2015.  Each design will be reviewed by several individuals and groups before the Secretary Treasury makes the final choice.

These same designs will also be used on a series of five ounce silver bullion coins, also from the Mint. However, even though the silver coin and the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park Quarter may have the same basic designs, their specifications will be quite different.

Before the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park Quarter is released in 2016, the US Mint will issue the Shawnee National Forest Quarter.  Following the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park quarter will be the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Quarter, Theodore Roosevelt National Park Quarter, and the Fort Moultrie Quarter, which will be released later in 2016.


 

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park information

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is located in Kentucky and honors a site where long ago, Native Americans and settlers traveled through a break in the Appalachian Mountains.  In 1940, Cumberland Gap was declared a national park in Kentucky as it was the path traveled to reach western lands in the United States during the expansion of the country in the 1800′s.

After the American Revolutionary War, people wanted to settle further west, and used the gap to get past the treacherous Appalachian Mountains.  Eventually a rail-road system went through the gap, and during the Civil War, it had strategic value, as both the North and South tried to gain control of the Cumberland Gap.

Today, the Cumberland Gap is a historical park that greets about one million visitors a year.  There are many trails and scenic spots throughout the park, such as Pinnacle overlook, which has an excellent view of the gap.