Berkshires Outvoted on State Quarter Selection
 Photo by Ian Britton
The famous bronze fisherman looking over Gloucester Harbor was dedicated in 1923 to commemorate the many lives lost at sea over the town's 300 years. |
The Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial received the most votes to be featured on the new quarter being created by the U.S. Mint. Gov. Deval Patrick announced the selection via his official Twitter feed, www.twitter.com/MassGovernor.
The three alternate sites selected by voters are the Lowell National Historic Park, the House of Seven Gables in Salem and the USS Constitution.
The state received 245,000 online votes from citizens selecting their favorite nationally recognized site to be featured on the new quarter. The site received votes from citizens throughout the commonwealth, with Worcester, Middlesex and Essex counties putting forward the most votes.
The Berkshires had 17 sites posted for voting, second in number only to Middlesex County. The choices included the Mount Greylock tower and Hancock Shaker Village's Round Stone Barn. Another 4,000, including the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace, could be also be selected.
The U.S. Mint asked Massachusetts, in addition to the other 49 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories, to select one preferred and three alternate national sites to be featured on the reverse of a quarter.
As part of America's Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act, the new quarters will be issued at the rate of five new designs per year beginning in 2010, and will be issued in the order in which the selected sites were established as national sites.
To learn more, go to www.mass.gov/governor/quarter.
