Item: i73701


 Authentic Coin of:

United States of America – America the Beautiful Series – ‘Silver Quarter’ 5 Oz. Silver Medallic Coin
BOMBAY HOOK DELAWARE COMMEMORATIVE
2015 Silver Quarter Dollar 76.2mm (155.51 grams) 0.999 Silver (5 oz. ASW (All Silver Weight))
Reference: KM# 633 |  Obverse Engraver: John Flanagan  |  Reverse Engraver: Joel Iskowitz
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN GOD WE TRUST LIBERTY QUARTER DOLLAR, Head of George Washington left.
BOMBAY HOOK DELAWARE 2015 E PLURIBUS UNUM, Great blue heron in the foreground and a great egret in the background.
Edge Lettering: .999 FINE SILVER 5.0 OUNCE

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.

The great blue heron (Ardea herodias) is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to coastal Spain, the Azores, and areas of far southern Europe. An all-white population found only in south Florida and the Florida Keys is known as the great white heron. There is a debate about whether it is a white color morph of the great blue heron, a subspecies of it, or an entirely separate species.

The Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge is a 15,978 acres (64.66 km²) National Wildlife Refuge located along the eastern coast of Kent County, Delaware, United States, on Delaware Bay. It was established on March 16, 1937 as a refuge and breeding ground for migratory and wintering waterfowl along the Atlantic Flyway. The Refuge was purchased from local land owners with federal duck stamp funds.

Today, the refuge protects wildlife of all kinds, with emphasis on all migratory birds. The refuge also contains the Allee House, a pre-revolutionary war farmhouse on the National Register of Historic Places. It is a stop on Delaware’s Coastal Heritage Greenway.

History

Known to the Native American as Canaresse, meaning “at the thickets,” and later referred to as Ruyge-Bosje, meaning “shaggy bushes” or thicket, Bombay Hook received its final name from the corruption of the Dutch “Boompjes” or “Boompjes Hoeck” meaning “little-tree point.” In 1679 Mechacksett, chief of Kahansink sold Bombay Hook wetlands to Peter Bayard, an early Dutch settler. The price for the area was one gun, four handfuls of powder, three waistcoats, one anker of liquor,^{[Note 1]} and one kettle.

In 1682, a canal was built from the town of Smyrna to the Delaware Bay; this waterway became the Smyrna River. The Bombay Hook Lighthouse (also called the Smyrna River Lighthouse) was built by the US Government in 1831. The lighthouse was later automated in 1912 and an unmanned light was installed. Arsonists burned the abandoned structure in the early 1970s.

The Allee House, still standing on the refuge, was built in 1753 by Abraham Allee, a Huguenot refugee from Artois, France. It is currently on the National Register of Historic Places. The house remains in nearly original condition.

In 1848, a hotel was built on Bombay Hook Island, making the island a popular resort area. By 1870, the steamer Pilot Boy was making regular trips between Bombay Hook and Philadelphia.

In 1878, a severe storm referred to by local residents as the “great tidal-wave” destroyed summer resorts on Collins and Fraland Beach. The storm changed the biological make-up of Bombay Hook. Prior to 1878, the inner marshes were protected from storms and high tides by the dunes and banks fronting the bay. These dunes were breached by the storm and were never repaired, the effects of which are evident to this day.

In 1937, 12,000 acres (49 km²), mostly tidal salt marsh stretching eight miles (13 km) along Delaware Bay, were purchased to establish the Bombay Hook Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. The land was purchased with duck stamp funds.

On April 1, 1938, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) based at Leipsic, Delaware started work on the refuge. They cleared wooded swamps and built a dike to create Raymond and Shearness Pools and a causeway to separate Shearness and Finis Pools, creating three freshwater impoundments; they planted over fifty thousand trees; and they built a headquarters building, a boathouse and marine railway, an observation tower, and houses for the manager and a patrolman. They also ran ditches for mosquito control, and conducted various wildlife surveys. The camp ended March 18, 1942.

In 1939, the Bombay Hook Migratory Waterfowl Refuge was renamed the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.

During World War II the refuge was used as a gunnery range and for research on aerial rockets. In 1961, the fourth freshwater impoundment, Bear Swamp Pool, was added, making a total of 1,100 acres (4.5 km²) of freshwater ponds that through techniques developed over the years are carefully managed to vary water levels for thousands of visiting waterfowl and shorebirds.

In 1980, an Atlantic Beaked Whale beached at Bombay Hook.

In 1986, Bombay Hook NWR represented the US in “World Safari” a satellite program by National Geographic, BBC, and Turner Broadcasting. Bombay Hook NWR was selected because of its high concentration of snow geese.

In 2015, the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge was featured on the fourth 2015 release of the America the Beautiful Quarters series. It features a great blue heron, with a great egret behind it, in a salt marsh.

Small additions have been made to the refuge since 1937. The last occurred in 1993 when Bombay Hook NWR acquired Steamboat landing, bringing the total to 15,978 acres (64.66 km²). Management of the refuge, including development of fifteen moist soil areas, about one thousand acres (4 km²) of agricultural lands, warm season grass fields, and habitat diversity has significantly increased wildlife use of the refuge, particularly by bird populations.