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 WASHINGTON
— In its continuing efforts to showcase America's scenic national
landmarks with overseas recipients of mail, the U.S. Postal Service
will issue a new international rate postage stamp honoring Acadia
National Park on May 30 in Bar Harbor, Maine.
The 60-cent Acadia National Park stamp is intended for letters
weighing up to and including one ounce and being mailed to Canada or
Mexico. The stamp will be available at Bar Harbor post offices
starting May 30, and it will be available at post offices across the
country beginning the following day.
The Acadia National Park stamp will be the fourth international rate
philatelic item issued this year. The Mount McKinley stamp, Nine-Mile
Prairie stamp and Badlands stamped postal card were issued April 17,
March 6 and Feb. 22, respectively. They are all part of the Scenic
American Landmarks series.
The series began in 1999 with the Niagara Falls stamp, the Mount
Rainier stamped postal card, the Voyageurs National Park aerogramme
and the Rio Grande stamp. A stamp featuring the Grand Canyon was
issued on Jan. 20, 2000.
Acadia National Park in Maine encompasses more than 45,000 acres
across several islands, including Mount Desert Island and the
Schoodic Peninsula. As the first national park created east of the
Mississippi River, it was first established as Sieur de Monts
National Monument in 1916 and then as Lafayette National Park by
President Woodrow Wilson in 1919. It received its current name in
1929.
With mountains, rocky shorelines, lakes and forests, the park draws
more than 3 million visitors a year. Forty-five miles of rustic
carriage roads—a legacy of John D. Rockefeller Jr.—provide
bicyclists, horse riders, runners and hikers freedom from automobile
traffic. More than 273 species of birds have been identified in the
Mount Desert Island area. Each year park naturalists anticipate the
return of peregrine falcons, which nest in the cliffs overlooking
Frenchman Bay and Jordan Pond.
Designed by Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, Md., the stamp features a
color photograph by Carr Clifton of Taylorsville, Calif.
To see the Acadia National Park stamp, and other forthcoming stamps
and stationery in the 2001 U.S. stamp program, visit www.usps.com and
click on "Stamp Release Schedule." To see previous releases, select
"Index of Stamp Issues." |
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