A newly minted coin depicting John Brown's fort honors West Virginia's Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
The United States Mint joined the National Park Service on Wednesday to officially launch the America the Beautiful Quarters Program coin.
The coin's reverse design features Brown's fort, the site of his last stand during his raid on the Harpers Ferry Armory, and serves as a reminder of the West Virginia town that played an integral role in the nation's Civil War, said William Norton, U.S. Mint director of legislative and intergovernmental affairs, in a news release.
Basketball Olympic gold medalist Vicky Bullett, a native of Martinsburg, served as master of ceremonies for the event.
Wednesday's ceremony included the Mint's customary coin exchange in which the public trades their cash for $10 rolls of newly minted Harpers Ferry National Historical Park quarters. The Mint also hosted a coin forum Tuesday, where local residents gathered to express their views about future coinage and learn about upcoming Mint coin programs and initiatives.
The Harpers Ferry National Historical Park quarter is the 33rd release in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program, a 12-year initiative authorized by Public Law 110-456 to honor 56 national parks and other national sites.
Each year, five new national sites are depicted on the reverses (tails sides) of the America the Beautiful Quarters. Other quarters issued in 2016 include Shawnee National Forest, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Fort Moultrie at Fort Sumter National Monument.