Tribute to Old Bet - Animal Memorials on Waymarking.com

Some time in the early 1800s -- the exact year is unknown, but it was before 1809 -- a man named Hachaliah Bailey of Somers, N. Y. acquired an elephant called Betty. He renamed her Old Bet. Old Bet became the star of Bailey's touring menagerie. In 1816, while Old Bet was on exhibit in Maine, she was shot dead by a local farmer. According to one story, the farmer thought it was wrong for poor people to be spending their money to view a travelling elephant. Another version of Old Bet's obituary states that the farmer shot her because she was beging exhibited on a Sunday, in violation of local "Blue Laws."

In 1820, Bailey started construction of the three-story Elephant Hotel. In 1827, he erected the monument to Old Bet in front of the hotel. The statue, made of wood, sits atop a granite shaft. The statue itself is about 4 feet long and 3 feet high. The statue now is painted gray, but originally Bailey had it painted gold.

Bailey was only distantly related to the Baileys of modern circus fame. But his menagerie -- and others based in the area -- were enough for Somers to bestow upon itself the title Cradle of the American Circus.

The Elephant Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the building serves as the Somers Town Hall. The town Historical Society's Museum of the American Circus is on the third floor of the building, is open limited hours or, sometimes, by appointment. If you want to make a visit to the museum part of your waymarking expedition, call 914-277-4977.

If you find yourself in southern Maine, check out the vitual cache Poor Old Bet (GCH1VN) on geocaching.com.

Most of the information listed here comes from "Somers --Its People and Places" published in 1988 by the Somers Historical Society.