'Big chair' in front of Vermont bank damaged by vandals
'Big chair' in front of Vermont bank damaged by vandals
BENNINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A giant ladderback chair that stands 19 feet (5.8 meters) tall may be big but it wasn’t tough enough for some vandals.
Damage to the massive “Big Chair” made from 3,000 pounds (1,361 kilograms) of cedar and white pine was captured early Thursday by surveillance video outside a credit union where the chair sits. The video shows two males and two females climbing and jumping on the chair.
The original chair was built in the late 1940s and became a popular roadside attraction. Over the decades it has been rebuilt several times.
The security video captured the moment the joints gave way, apparently injuring one of the vandals who was seen being helped away.
The Bennington Banner reports the weight of the people who climbed on the chair caused the sockets that held the cross pieces to split wide open. Now the chair’s wooden joints are in splinters and the rope seat is no longer in place.
“We have people on a daily basis come and take pictures with the chair. They drive here specifically to see it,” said Linda M. Bow, the chief business officer for the Tri State Area Federal Credit Union’s Bennington branch. Bow said. “It’s going to be hard to replace. It wasn’t meant for climbing.”
