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The South Carolina State Quarter
The design depicted on the quarter displays a selection of South Carolina state symbols backed by an outline of the state. A star near the center of the state represents Columbia, the state capital. The date, 1788, above the state outline is the year that South Carolina joined the union as one of the original 13 colonies. A proud state nickname, "The Palmetto State" is noted as well. The symbols represented on the coin are the state bird, the state flower and the state tree. The Carolina Wren ranges throughout South Carolina from the coast to the mountains. It was officially adopted in 1948 displacing the Mockingbird as the state bird. Found in every nook and corner of South Carolina, the Carolina or Yellow Jessamine was officially adopted as the state flower in 1924.
"As fair as Southern Chivalry
As pure as truth, and shaped like stars"
The Palmetto Tree, adopted by Joint Resolution in 1939, is prominently displayed on the South Carolina State Flag, in the Great Seal of the state and given to the state's nickname. Its historical roots run back to the Revolutionary War where it is symbolic of the defeat of the British Fleet attempting to capture Charleston Harbor. Cannonballs from the fleet could not bring down the walls of the fort on Sullivan's Island and the fleet was forced to retreat. The walls were constructed of Palmetto logs. Beginning in 1998, the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism started accepting design suggestions for the quarter. Many suggestions came from the department's offices, from South Carolina school children and from the South Carolina Numismatic Society. These suggestions were narrowed down to five semi-finalists by the department and to three by the Citizen's Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee and the Fine Arts Commission. The final choice was made by Governor Jim Hodges, noting the strength of the state represented in the Palmetto Tree; the hospitality of South Carolina Citizens symbolized in the song of the Carolina Wren; and South Carolina’s vast natural beauty captured in the Yellow Jessamine, a delicate golden bloom - a sign of coming spring. Source: United States Mint, http://www.usmint.gov, January 17, 2001. |
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The South Carolina quarter design
was officially unveiled in a ceremony in Columbia, South Carolina on May
26, 2000. This quarter is the eighth released in the 50 State Quarters
series and the third released in 2000.