The relic boat in the foreground adds interest and depth to the distant abandoned smokehouse located in this secluded down east Maine coastal cove.
This location in Trescott, Maine Is known by the name “Baileys Mistake” since back in the 1700’s.
The story goes something like this:
There was then a renowned sea captain, a Captain Bailey who was known and revered for his exemplary seamanship and sailing skills. It seems he, his ship and crew had left Boston, Massachusetts bound for Lubec, ME, with a cargo of lumber.
As they approached West Quoddy Head Light they were socked in by a heavy, heavy fog. Old salt that he was, Captain Bailey, his ship and crew turned wrongly into this cove only to run aground high and dry.
It was out of this embarrassment and pride that Captain Bailey and his crew, then came ashore at this place and there used that cargo of wood to build homes and settle at this location, never to again sail.
Bailey’s Mistake to this day carries the history of that fateful voyage in its name..
So here’s to old Bailey, who sailed the salt sea,
‘Till his ship ended up where ’twas not s’posed to be;
I first heard of this place listening to an old quite hilarious Bob and Ray comedy skit, In which Ray Gould is playing the character of a guest publisher of a lengthy tome entitled “The History of America”. The interviewer, played by Bob Elliot, points out to his guest several glaring errors like, “The capitol of America is Bailey’s Mistake, and similar outrageous citations. And asks Ray what led him to make such a ludicrous oversight.
That’s ‘capital’ not ‘capitol’.