Rhode Island
The smallest state in the U.S. and a state of the sea. "The Ocean State," engraved with a yacht and a bridge.
Rhode Island is well known as the smallest state in the United States by area, but its bond with the sea is deeper than anyone’s. Embracing a long coastline and bays, its nickname is likewise “The Ocean State.” In the 50 State Quarters series, it was issued as the thirteenth coin.
On the coin’s reverse are drawn together the America’s Cup yacht “Reliance,” sailing across the calm Narragansett Bay, and behind it the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge. The yacht with its sails fully spread and the bridge spanning across the sea come together to show the atmosphere of this state, which has lived alongside the sea.
The phrase written below is, just as the nickname, “The Ocean State.” It compresses onto one face of a coin the sea culture of this region, renowned for yacht racing and sailing. You can feel the pride of a state that, though small, has been connected to the wide world through the sea.
Rhode Island joined the Union on May 29, 1790, having been the very last of the thirteen states to ratify the Constitution. It was that cautious, in a sense, but in the end it became a full-fledged member of the new America.
Gazing at the sailboat and bridge on the coin, the story of a small state for which the sea was the very stage of life comes gently to us.