Ole Bull State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Stewardson Township, Potter County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

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.

History

New Norway

Ole Bull State Park is named for

Ole Borneman Bull Ole Bornemann Bull (; 5 February 181017 August 1880) was a Norwegian virtuoso violinist and composer. According to Robert Schumann, he was on a level with Niccolò Paganini for the speed and clarity of his playing. Biography Background Bull w ...

. Ole Bull was a famous

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

ist. 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), Oleona, New Norway, and Valhalla in the Kettle Creek area. Ole Bull began work on a "castle", which he named Nordenskjold. 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. Efforts to settle the area were parodied in the 1853 Norwegian folk song Oleanna, which was translated into English and popularized by Pete Seeger in 1955. The Norwegians, however, did not give up. They migrated west into

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and the Dakotas. The settlement may have failed, but Ole Bull was not forgotten. The citizens of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

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.

Lumber Era

The Kettle Creek area was part of the massive

lumbering Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

operation that occurred in most of north central Pennsylvania in the 1880s and 1890s. The lumbering industry harvested the old-growth

white pine ''Pinus'', the pines, is a genus of approximately 111 extant tree and shrub species. The genus is currently split into two subgenera: subgenus ''Pinus'' (hard pines), and subgenus ''Strobus'' (soft pines). Each of the subgenera have been further ...

and hemlock. Two

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

s were built on the banks of Kettle Creek to haul the timber to

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

s in the Cross Fork area. The old-growth forest was soon gone. The land was no longer useful to the lumber industry and it fell into disuse. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased much of the land and Ole Bull State Park was opened in 1925.

Civilian Conservation Corps

Many of the facilities at Ole Bull State Park were constructed during the Great Depression by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

founded by American President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. The CCC created many jobs for the out of work industrial workers from throughout the United States. Ole Bull State Park is home to many examples of the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps throughout North Central Pennsylvania. They built

outhouse An outhouse is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry (non-flushing) toilets may be encountered. The term may also be used ...

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

s, and the camping areas. The CCC also built the original dam in the swimming area.

Recreation

Hunting and fishing

Hunting is permitted on of Ole Bull State Park. Hunters are expected to follow the rules and regulations of the Pennsylvania State Game Commission. The common game species are

ruffed grouse The ruffed grouse (''Bonasa umbellus'') is a medium-sized grouse occurring in forests from the Appalachian Mountains across Canada to Alaska. It is the most widely distributed game bird in North America. It is non-migratory. It is the only specie ...

squirrels Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

, and black bears. Many more acres of forested woodlands are available for hunting on the grounds of the adjacent Susquehannock State Forest. The water quality of Kettle Creek and Ole Bull Run is very good. The waters offer fishing for

brook A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to: Computing *Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C *Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler *BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming ...

rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

and brown trout. There is a special fishing area of children and people with disabilities near the dam on Kettle Creek. Fishing is prohibited between the wires at the dam basin and in the swimming area.

Swimming and camping

Swimming is permitted at the sandy beach on Kettle Creek during the months of May through mid-September. Swim at your own risk. Lifeguards are not provided. Pets are not permitted at the beach. Camping is permitted year round at Ole Bull State Park. There are two camping areas on the banks of Kettle Creek. Some of the sites are sunny and some are shaded. There are 24 electric hookups at one campsite and 21 at the other. All campsites have a level gravel pad for setting up campers. They also feature a fire ring and a picnic table. Modern restrooms, water hydrants and a sanitary dump station are available at Ole Bull State Park.

Picnics and trails

The picnic area is on the bank of Kettle Creek across from the swimming area. There are four

s, many picnic tables, a playground, fireplaces, a restroom and water hydrants. There is electricity at the Stone Pavilion. These pavilion must be reserved in order to have access to the electricity. Ole Bull State Park is a

trailhead A trailhead is the point at which a trail begins, where the trail is often intended for hiking, biking, horseback riding, or off-road vehicles. Modern trailheads often contain rest rooms, maps, sign posts and distribution centers for information ...

for the Susquehannock Trail System. It also of self-contained trails. The Daugherty Loop Trail uses old logging roads and a railroad grade to pass through the Black Forest of Pennsylvania. The Beaver Dam Nature Trail follows Kettle Creek for . The Ole Bull Trail leads to the remains of Ole Bull's "castle", Nordjenskald. This area is the site of a panoramic view of the park. In the winter months cross country skiing, snow shoes and snow mobiles are permitted.

Nearby state parks

The following state parks are within of Ole Bull State Park: ''Note: shows Ole Bull State Park'' * Bucktail State Park Natural Area ( Cameron and Clinton Counties) *

Cherry Springs State Park Cherry Springs State Park is an Pennsylvania state park in Potter County, Pennsylvania, United States. The park was created from land within the Susquehannock State Forest, and is on Pennsylvania Route 44 in West Branch Township. Cherry Spring ...

(Potter County) * Colton Point State Park ( Tioga County) * Denton Hill State Park (Potter County) * Hyner Run State Park (Clinton County) * Hyner View State Park (Clinton County) * Kettle Creek State Park (Clinton County) * Little Pine State Park (

Lycoming County Lycoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 114,188. Its county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. ...

) * Leonard Harrison State Park (Tioga County) * Lyman Run State Park (Potter County) *

Patterson State Park Patterson State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on that are located in Summit Township, Potter County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is on Pennsylvania Route 44 near Sweden Valley. The park has two rustic roadside pavilions. Hi ...

(Potter County) * Prouty Place State Park (Potter County) * Sinnemahoning State Park (Potter and Cameron Counties) * Sizerville State Park (Cameron and Potter Counties) * Upper Pine Bottom State Park (Lycoming County)

References

External links

*
2002 Ole Bull monument
{{authority control State parks of Pennsylvania Protected areas established in 1925 Civilian Conservation Corps in Pennsylvania Parks in Potter County, Pennsylvania Campgrounds in Pennsylvania 1925 establishments in Pennsylvania Protected areas of Potter County, Pennsylvania