Ole Bull State Park

Ole Bull State Park is a 132acre Pennsylvania state park in Stewardson Township, Potter County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is located on Pennsylvania Route 144, north of Renovo and south of Galeton. Ole Bull State Park is in the Kettle Creek Valley, and is surrounded by Susquehannock State Forest. The woods surrounding the park are called the Black Forest because of its once dense tree cover.HistoryNew NorwayOle Bull State Park is named for Ole Borneman Bull. Ole Bull was a famous Norwegian violinist. He visited the United States several times and played with great success. While visiting the United States, Bull became interested in founding a colony for his fellow countrymen. In 1852, he purchased of land for $10,000 in Pennsylvania and founded the colony, which was called New Norway. He established four communities, New Bergen (now known as Carter Camp), Oleana, New Norway and Valhalla in the Kettle Creek area. Ole Bull began work on a "castle", which he named Nordjenskald. The castle and the communities were abandoned in less than a year. The problems encountered by the Norwegian pioneers were mainly based on the inexperience of the farmers in dealing with clearing the land of its many trees. The Norwegians, however, did not give up. They migrated west into Minnesota and the Dakotas. The settlement may have failed, but Ole Bull was not forgotten. The citizens of Norway paid for the construction of a monument to honor Ole Bull. The statue was placed in the park on the 150th anniversary of New Norway in 2002.