Campaign Underway to Bring Back Mount Washington Bench

A rest stop bench that the Mount Washington Local Issues Committee voted to relocate from the scenic Sea View Trail last month is gone—and a campaign is underway to bring it back.

The metal bench was taken out last week by the Department of Recreation and Parks, which is looking for a suitable location to transplant it, according to Jerry Schneider, a resident of Sea View Trail who lobbied for the bench’s removal. Along with a nearby “cousin” that mysteriously disappeared in October 2012, the bench was widely known to attract miscreants and vandals who regularly drank, smoked or made out there.

But even before the bench was removed, some of the Mount Washingtonians who walk on Sea View Trail were concerned that they would loose their last refuge for a bit of relaxation on the picturesque path.

And now that the bench is gone, some residents have started a petition for the bench’s restoration.

“I walk here every day and sometimes I want to rest or make a phone call,” said Cathy Reece, who can be seen on the trail just about any morning with her two dogs Beatrice and Bruno.

The bench was removed last week Tuesday, May 28, Reece said, adding: “And now there’s a backlash because people are mad.”

Schneider told Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch that he understands “there are people who miss it” and that they’ve “signed a petition to have the bench back.”

But "it's one bench—and the residents made their case," he said, referring to the May 9 Local Issues meeting at which the bench was voted out of Mount Washington. "It's already a done deal."

Shortly before the bench was removed, a “Save The Bench” sign appeared on it. Under the sign was a message that was barely visible from a distance. It read: “Brought to you by the aging Mt. Washington Sunset Cocktail Sippers.”

Mary Ann Espelage, another regular dog-walker on the trail has preserved a photograph of the sign on her smart phone that might be the last symbol of the lone bench's existence. (See attached photo.) The fine-print under the sign, she said, only half-jokingly, proves that "it's not just gangbangers who want the bench back."

Some of the regular walkers on Sea View Trail have an idea who might have put the sign up. "We have a suspect," Reece said, adding: "It's a dog-walker."