Ole Bornemann Bull, the great Norwegian violinist, was a dreamer. Not satisfied with being Norway’s most famous musician (and mentor to Edvard Grieg), he sought to establish a utopian colony, a new Norway deep in Pennsylvania’s Susquehannock State Forest. It’s now called Ole Bull State Park.
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Flanked by tall trees on both sides of the two-lane blacktop, the road to Ole Bull State Park dips up and down among Pennsylvania’s green mountains — Norway without the fjords. “Welcome to Potter County: God’s Country,” read the signs. As we listened to the haunting sounds of the Hardanger fiddle on Nils Okland and Sigbjorn Apeland’s lovely recording “Lysoen — Hommage a Ole Bull,” I imagined Grieg-like trolls marching down from the thickly wooded hills.
In 1852, Bull purchased 120,000 acres in Pennsylvania. But for various reasons, including meager soil, unscrupulous land speculators, scanty funds and the challenge of taming an unbroken wilderness, Bull’s dream went bust. But not everyone forgot about the violinist, who returned to Norway. In 1925, Ole Bull State Park opened. Many years later, in 2002, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of his short-lived colony, a monument was erected to honor the violinist as a gift from the citizens of Norway.
Today the 132-acre state park, open year-round, offers volleyball, walking and nature trails, wildlife viewing, campgrounds and picnic tables. Visitors can fish for brook, brown and rainbow trout at Kettle Creek and Ole Bull Run. Winter sports include cross-country skiing and snowmobiling. Ole Bull Lodge log cabin also can be rented year-round.
Bull is remembered in other, small, ways too. A photograph of him hangs inside the park office. Painted rocks, created by children with his name on them, sit on windowsills. Most poignant of all, Castle Vista Trail leads to a panoramic view of the park and the foundation of Ole Bull’s “castle” (remains of a cabin), a haunting reminder of one man’s quixotic dream.
For more information, see Ole Bull State Park (31 Valhalla Lane, Cross Fork, Pa.; 814-435-5000; http://tinyurl.com/olebullpark).
June Sawyers is a freelance reporter.