The Madison Boulder, the world’s largest glacial erratic, was spray-painted with graffiti by a vandal sometime between Friday and early Monday, Madison Police Chief Jimmy Hayford said Tuesday.
New Hampshire Parks, which manages Madison Boulder Natural Area, will sandblast the graffiti off the rock, Hayford said on Tuesday.
One message on the boulder says, “It’s just a rock.” Another said, “Tourists get out.” A third message on a nearby kiosk said, “F— Tourists.”
Hayford suspects the same person caused both incidents. There are no persons of interest, but police think the person could be a juvenile.
Both the rock and the property in Eidelweiss, a village district in Madison, N.H., were painted with anti-tourism messages in the same color.
A suspect could be charged with criminal mischief, said Hayford. The severity depends on how much money it costs to remove the paint. If it takes more than $1,001 to repair the damage, the suspect could be charged with a felony.
Marketing & Communications Director of the Division of Parks and Recreation, Greg Keeler, said the vandalism was cleaned on Tuesday.
The Madison Boulder is considered the largest known glacial erratic in North America. It measures 83 feet in length, 23 feet in height above the ground, 37 feet in width, and weighs nearly 5,000 tons, according to the state of New Hampshire and the U.S. Department of the Interior. It became a National Natural Landmark in 1970. (Dan Tuohy photo Sept. 23, 2023)
New Hampshire Parks says about the boulder: “Madison Boulder Natural Area is home to the largest known glacial erratic in North America, and among the largest in the world,” states NHstateParks.org. “Madison Boulder is a huge granite rock measuring 83 feet in length, 23 feet in height above the ground, 37 feet in width, and weighs upwards of 5,000 tons! The 17-acre site was acquired by the state of N.H. in 1946.”
The site continues, “In 1970, Madison Boulder was designated a National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior because the enormous erratic, ‘is an outstanding illustration of the power of an ice sheet to pluck out very large blocks of fractured bedrock and move them substantial distances.'”
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