Blue Ridge Parkway Quarter

The third coin issued in 2015 for the United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters™ Program will be the 2015 Blue Ridge Parkway Quarter. It is the twenty-eighth out of 56 coins in the program which launched in 2010.

The US Mint has not yet released any design information for the 2015 quarters including the Blue Ridge coin. Design candidates for these strikes should be given to the Citizen’s Coinage Advisory Committee and the Commission of Fine Arts for their review sometime in early 2014. Then the Mint will consult other interested parties before asking the Treasury Secretary to make the final selection.

These coins will enter into circulation likely during the summer of 2015 and be distributed through the Federal Reserve Bank system. Typically, the Mint will also offer the strikes for sale directly to the public in both rolls and bags.


Additional 2015 America the Beautiful Quarter releases for the year include:

Blue Ridge Parkway of North Carolina

Scenery is the topic of the day when it comes to discussions of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The 469 mile long road is located in both Virginia and North Carolina, but for the sake of the America the Beautiful Quarters Program, it is honored in the state of North Carolina.

Construction on the parkway itself (known as the Appalachian Scenic Highway then) began in 1935 under many of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s public works programs. Private contractors, Works Progress Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps and even the Civilian Public Service program all played a role in its completion.

Twenty six tunnels through the rock of the mountains are located on the completed parkway, one of them on the Virginia portion of the road and the remaining in North Carolina. It is not uncommon for sections of the road near these tunnels to be closed during the winter due to hazardous conditions created by dripping water turning to ice.

The complete Parkway as it is presented today took over 52 years to complete, with the last section being added as recently as 1987. The entire road follows closely along the Blue Ridge mountain chain and offers spectacular views at almost every mile-marker.