This story was originally produced by the Conway Daily Sun. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
The Madison Boulder, which is the largest glacial erratic in the world, 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 sand blast the graffiti off the rock, said Chief Jimmy Hayford on Tuesday.
"We, at the same time, achieve about an hour so after we took that complaint, we took another complaint of similar vandalism around the Village District of Eidelweiss," he said.
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 were sprayed with anti-tourism messages with the same color paint.
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.
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.'"
