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Approximately 500 people attended the U.S. Mint’s ceremonial release this past April 11, 2018 at the Waters Resort and Casino in Red Cliff, Wisconsin for the release by the U.S. Mint of the new Apostle Islands quarter that features the Devils Island Lighthouse.
The new 25-cent piece is the 42nd quarter to be released for the America the Beautiful series of quarters released by the United States Mint. The new quarter has the distinction of being the 100th design to be featured opposite the portrait of George Washington that has appeared on the front of the quarter since 1932. The quarters have been released at five per year, with the series set to conclude in 2021.
This is not the first quarter to have a lighthouse on the reverse side. In 2003, Maine’s Pemaquid Point Lighthouse was featured on a commemorative quarter, and in 2012 the U.S. Mint issued a quarter honoring Maine’s Acadia National Park that featured that state’s Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. Later this year as part of the America the Beautiful series, a new quarter will feature Rhode Island’s Block Island North Light.
One of the speakers at the event was Henry Buffalo, a Red Cliff elder who spoke about the importance of the Apostle Islands to the Anishinaabe people who first inhabited the area centuries ago. He said that the Red Cliff and Bad River bands were instrumental in obtaining federal protection for the Apostle Islands while also advocating maintaining their tribal lands and their hunting and fishing rights. In 1970, President Richard Nixon signed federal legislation that established the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.
The Apostle Islands off the tourist town of Bayfield, Wisconsin compromises 21 islands with 69,372 acres of land on the northern tip of Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Superior, and it is widely known for its historic lighthouses. Lighthouse historian Terry Pepper, the former executive director of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, has described them as one of the more interesting geographically centered collection of lighthouse structures in the United States.
The Apostle Islands Cruises in Bayfield, Wisconsin offers tours to view the lighthouses; some that actually stops at islands so tourist and lighthouse aficionados can actually visit an offshore island light.
The 23rd annual Apostle Islands Lighthouse Celebration will be held in Bayfield, Wisconsin from August 28 to September 15, 2018.
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