The design for the reverse (tails) side of the Virginia quarter features three 17th century sailing ships and the inscriptions "Virginia 1788," "Jamestown 1607-2007," and "Quadricentennial." 

The three ships are the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. In December 1606, a group of Englishmen and boys set sail on these ships, bound for the New World. They landed in Virginia in May 1607 and founded the first permanent English settlement which they called Jamestown, in honor of King James I.

The settlement - which was established 13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock - struggled with disease and starvation during the first years. The settlement began to prosper when it was discovered that tobacco could be grown there as a cash crop.

Jamestown was the capital of Virginia from 1607 to 1698. At that time, the capital moved to Williamsburg, and Jamestown started to decline. By the late 1800s, only a few ruins remained.

In 2007, Virginia will celebrate the quadracentennial - 400th anniversary - of the founding of Jamestown.

On June 25, 1788, Virginia became the tenth state to join the Union. Virginia's quarter is the tenth quarter to be issued in the 10-year State Quarters Program which issues five quarters each year honoring the states in the order in which they joined the Union. 

New York State was the 11th state to join the Union and its quarter will be the first one issued next year. It will be followed by quarters honoring North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Kentucky.