About This Stamp
This international rate stamp in the Scenic American Landscapes series features a photograph of sunrise on the Androscoggin River in the 13 Mile Woods in Errol, New Hampshire.
The 13 Mile Woods is a community forest of more than 5,300 acres along the Androscoggin River in northern New Hampshire. Since December 2005, the area has been owned by the 13 Mile Woods Association, Inc., a nonprofit group established to manage this land for the benefit of the residents of Errol, a town of approximately 300 people in Coos County, the northernmost county in New Hampshire.
Now protected from development, 13 Mile Woods is dedicated to wildlife conservation, outdoor recreation, and sustainable logging. The effort to preserve 13 Mile Woods has been hailed as a model for future public-private partnerships.
The 13 Mile Woods are part of the Great North Woods, which sprawls across the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York and the Canadian province of Quebec. In Coos County, New Hampshire, where 13 Mile Woods is located, the Great North Woods is an official state tourist region.
Art Director & Designer
Ethel Kessler
Ethel Kessler is an award-winning designer and art director who has worked with corporations, museums, public and private institutions, professional service organizations, and now, the United States Postal Service.
After earning a B.F.A. in visual communications from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Kessler worked as a graphic designer and project manager for the exhibits division of the United States Information Agency. Her work was distributed internationally on subjects such as Immigration, Entrepreneurship, Renovation of American Cities, and the Bicentennial of 1976. She was also responsible for exhibits in Morocco, Botswana, and El Salvador.
In 1981, she established Kessler Design, Inc., for which she is creative director and designer. Clients have included the Clinton Government reorganization, the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Television, the National Park Service, and the American Institute of Architects.
She has been an art director for the U.S. Postal Service’s stamp development program for more than 25 years. As an art director for USPS, Kessler has been responsible for creating more than 500 stamp designs, including the Breast Cancer Research stamp illustrated by Whitney Sherman. Issued in 1998, the stamp is still on sale and has raised more $98 million for breast cancer research. Other Kessler projects include the popular and highly regarded Nature of America 120 stamp series, a collaboration with nationally acclaimed nature illustrator John Dawson, the 12-year Lunar New Year series with Kam Mak, the American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes 10 stamps issued in 2003, a 2016 pane of stamps celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and the 2023 stamp honoring Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And many, many others.