Raised Middle Finger sculpture

Westford, Vermont, United States

Roadside giants

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A raised-middle-finger sculpture carved from pine and mounted on a 16-foot pole beside Route 128 in Westford, Vermont. Put up in November 2018 in a permit dispute with the town, it has since been joined by two taller ones.

Private to your Passport.

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Raised Middle Finger sculpture

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Approximate location · 44.612° N, 73.009° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Few roadside displays are as blunt about their purpose as the raised middle finger beside Route 128 in Westford, Vermont. It went up on 30 November 2018 as a protest by a local business owner whose building plans the town had refused. According to Boston.com in December 2018, he wanted an 8,000-square-foot garage so he could move his truck repair and monofilament recycling businesses from nearby Swanton. Officials told the outlet that his applications fell short of the town's standards. VTDigger reported in June 2019 that the Development Review Board had ruled the plan did not meet zoning regulations and that the case was before the environmental division of Vermont Superior Court.

The sculpture is carved pine on a 16-foot pole. Boston.com gives its weight as 700 pounds and its cost as about $4,000, and reports that floodlights keep it visible at night. Reports differ on its height: VTDigger called it a six-foot sculpture, while CBS Local said seven feet. CBS Local also said it was carved in Vermont by an artisan whom the owner declined to name.

The Westford Select Board told the Associated Press in 2018 that it could not remove the sculpture because it is considered public art. VTDigger reported that the case concerned the state's anti-billboard laws.

The display has since grown. In December 2025 WCAX reported three middle-finger sculptures visible from Route 128, together with a Grinch statue added for the holidays. The owner told the station that the two newer sculptures stand about 34 feet high, just under the 35-foot maximum height of the building he had proposed, and that trees were starting to hide them from passing drivers. WCAX said the sculptures attract visitors daily.

The sculptures stand on private land beside the highway; view them from the road and do not enter the property.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A roadside protest display on private land beside Route 128. WCAX reported in December 2025 that three sculptures and a holiday Grinch statue were up and that visitors come daily; the owner said trees were starting to hide the two newer ones.

ACCESS

Beside Route 128 in Westford, Vermont, on private land. Look from the road and do not enter the property.

COMMUNITY