Oleanna

“The Constitution of Norway was signed at Eidsvoll on May 17 in the year 1814. The constitution declared Norway to be an independent nation.

The celebration of this day began spontaneously among students and others from early on. However, Norway was at that time under Swedish rule (following the Convention of Moss in August 1814) and for some years the King of Sweden and Norway was reluctant to allow the celebrations. The day focused originally on the Norwegian constitution, but after 1905, the focus has been directed also towards the royal family. The parliament of Norway broke the personal union with Sweden under the House of Bernadotte on 7 June 1905. After some months of tension and fear of war between the two neighbouring nations, negotiations between the two governments led to Norway's recognition by Sweden as an independent constitutional monarchy on 26 October 1905. On that date, King Oscar II renounced his claim to the Norwegian throne, effectively dissolving the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. This event was quickly followed by Prince Carl of Denmark's accession to the Norwegian throne on 18 November the same year, taking the name Haakon VII.”

Midnattsolen Syttende Mai Celebration

05/19/2012

"I'm Off to Oleana," 1853, Ditmar Meidell

I'm off to Oleana, I'm turning from my doorway,No chains for me, I'll say good-bye to slavery in Norway.Ole-Ole-Ole-oh! Oleana!Ole-Ole-Ole-oh! Oleana!

They give you land for nothing in jolly Oleana,And grain comes leaping from the ground in floods of golden manna.

The grain it does the threshing, it pours into the sack, Sir,You make a quart of whiskey from each one without expense, Sir

The crops they are gigantic, potatoes are immense, Sir,You make a quart of whiskey from each one without expense, Sir.

And ale as strong and sweet as the best you've ever tasted,It's running in the foamy creek, where most of it is wasted

The salmon they are playing, and leaping in the brook, Sir,They hop into your kettle, put the cover on, and cook, Sir.

And little roasted piggies, with manners quite demure, Sir,They ask you, Will you have some ham? And then you say, Why, sure, Sir!

The cows are most obliging, their milk they put in pails, Sir,They make your cheese and butter with a skill that never fails, Sir.

The bull he is the master, his calves he likes to boss, Sir,He beats them when they loaf about, he's never at a loss, Sir.

The calves are very helpful, themselves they skin and kill, Sir,They turn into a tasty roast before you drink your fill, Sir.

The hens lay eggs colossal, so big and round and fine, Sir,The roosters act like eight-day clocks, they always tell the time, Sir.

And cakes come raining down, Sir. with chocolate frosting coated,They're nice and rich and sweet, good Lord, you eat them till you're bloated

And all night long the sun shines, it always keeps a-glowing,It gives you eyes just like a cat's, to see where you are going

The moon is also beaming, it's always full, I vow, Sir,A bottle for a telescope, I'm looking at it now, Sir.

Name: Ole Bull's ColonyRegion: Allegheny National Forest RegionCounty: PotterMarker Location: Cherry Spgs. Rd. (PA 44) near W. Branch Rd. (Cherry Springs State Park)

Dedication Date: August 19, 1947

Violinist Ole Bull, circa 1870.

Credit: Image donated by Corbis-Bettmann

Acclaimed as one of the greatest violin virtuosos of his age, Norwegian Ole Bull (1810-1880) in 1852 bought more than 17 square miles of land in the mountains of northern Pennsylvania's Potter County to establish a Norwegian settlement in America. The colony soon floundered and Bull returned to Norway in 1857. In 1920, Pennsylvania established the 117-acre Ole Bull State Park, which contains the site of the Norwegian settlements.

Enraptured by the beauty of Potter County's rugged woodlands, violin virtuoso and erstwhile colonizer Ole Bull looked over the expanse of forested lands and proclaimed, "We are to found a New Norway, consecrated to liberty, baptized with independence, and protected by the Union's mighty flag." In 1852, several hundred immigrants answered his call and left Norway and the American Midwest for a new home in the wilds of in north-central Pennsylvania. Less than two years later, Ole Bull's grand venture would collapse in scandal and derision.

Born in Bergen, Norway, Ole Bull (1810-1880) was a violin soloist with the local philharmonic orchestra at the age of eight. By the 1830s, Bull had a thriving concert career. Bull offered a theatrical style that delighted audiences in Europe, and after an extensive tour in 1845, in the United States, as well. With fame came wealth and influence, and a kind of hero status in his native land. Bull befriended other musical celebrities, including Edvard Grieg, Franz Liszt, and famed German composer Robert Schumann, who called Bull "the greatest of all."

Bull was also a tireless promoter of Norwegian culture.

Credit: Courtesy of Potter County Historical Society. The last cabin standing from the Oleana Colony, Potter County, PA, circa 1900.

After a year of severe hardships, the majority of Norwegians who settled in Ole Bull's Potter County

colony disbanded and moved away, many of them west to

join other Norwegian immigrants in Michigan and

Wisconsin.

Inspired by the French Revolution of 1848, Bull established Norwegian Theater in Bergen to instill national pride in his fellow countrymen. The venture soon collapsed, however, and disillusioned by the Norwegian Parliament refusal to provide funding, Bull formulated plans to leave Norway and found a colony for Norwegians in the New World.

On his second American tour, in 1852, Bull investigated the purchase of land in the Midwest and in Virginia. Unable to reconcile the institution of slavery with his perception of American freedom, Bull entered into an agreement to purchase 11,144 acres of land for a series of settlement in the Kettle Creek Valley in Potter County, Pennsylvania, whose mountainous terrain reminded him of his native Norway.

Credit: Courtesy of Potter County Historical Society

One of the first structures built by Norwegian settlers at Oleana, this

three-story hotel and adjacent dining hall served as the community's

center of activities. In 1856, long after the majority of settlers left the

colony, John Henry Andresen purchased the hotel. Andresen ran

the hotel until 1880 when his adopted son Willard took over.

Andresen later opened a grist mill and two saw mills, and ran the post

office.

On September 5, 1852, Bull arrived by coach in Coudersport, followed two days later by what a local paper called a first contingent of thirty "fine looking, robust and determined appearing sons of Norway." Within several weeks, an additional 105 colonists had arrived. Over the next year, several hundred more from Wisconsin as well as Norway joined the first contingent. Estimates place the total number of settlers between 300 and 800.

During the first few months of settlement, laborers constructed a hotel, schoolhouses, and cabins for the new arrivals. Bull employed Robert Hamilton, a surveyor, to design plans for four towns in the Kettle Creek Valley named Oleana, New Bergen, Valhalla, and New Norway. By the first snowfall of November 1852, however, the settlement already faced serious problems. Deep snows blocked the road between Oleana and the nearest town, Coudersport, located roughly thirty miles away, supplies dwindled, and the settlers started to run out of money.

To pay for the land and the colonists' expenses, Bull absented himself for months, traveling on an extended concert tour. Unpaid bills, mounting invoices, and a lack of leadership soon eroded the settlers' morale and fueled rumors in the United States and in Norway that the colony was doomed. Soon The New York Times claimed that Bull did not possess clear title to lands he sold to settlers, further undermining the venture. Opponents back in Norway were especially critical of Bull's venture. Published in Norway on March 5, 1853, the ballad "Oleana," mocked both Bull and the settlers who followed him.

To his critics' delight, Bull had never acquired title to the land upon which his Norwegian settlements were built, and the railroad that was supposed to link the Oleanna settlements to the outside world never materialized. On September 22, 1853, Bull deeded the land back to John F. Cowan for a refund for $103,888, the amount he paid for the land. By October, with winter approaching, many settlers abandoned Oleana to relocate to the Midwest, where sizable Norwegian farming communities were emerging outside Milwaukee and Minneapolis, or return to Norway.

Credit: Courtesy of Potter County Historical Society

Despite the mass exodus from the New Norway colony after its collapse in the mid-1850s, a few settlers stayed behind, including the Olson family, pictured here. The son of original settlers, Henry Olson operated the Olson Lodge in Oleana for twenty-five years.

Despite his poor health, Bull continued to tour and hold benefit concerts for the settlers of Oleana, sending money to them throughout the fall. One source later estimated that he lost between $40,000 and $70,000 in the venture. By the spring of 1854, few immigrants remained in Bull's failed colony. Soon, new settlers from Germany moved into the area. A few Norwegians, however, did remain in Potter County, including John Henry Andresen, who purchased the hotel in Oleana and lived in Oleana until his death in 1890. The Olson family operated the Olson Lodge well into the 1900s.

After the collapse of Oleana, Bull remained in the United States until 1859, when he returned to his family in Norway. In 1867, he sailed again for America and another lucrative transcontinental tour. Remarkably, his popularity was as strong as ever. In the years following his death in 1880, Norwegian communities throughout America continued to revere Ole Bull. Thousands attended the dedication ceremonies in Minneapolis when in 1896 a statue was dedicated in his honor.

Following World War I, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased 132 acres along Kettle Creek and in 1925 opened Ole Bull State Park to the public. In 2002, on the 150th anniversary of the colony's founding, a monument to Ole Bull was erected in the park, a gift of the citizens of Norway to honor the patron's vision and virtuosity in attempting to transplant Norway to America.Beyond the MarkerTheodore Christian Blegen, Norwegian Migration to America, 1825-1860 (Ayer Co. Pub.), 1969.Einar Haugen, Ole Bull: Norway's Romantic Musician And Cosmopolitan Patriot (University of Wisconsin Press), 1993.Paul W Heimel, Oleana: The Ole Bull Colony (Knox Books), 2002.Minnesota State University, Norwegian Immigration http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/mnstatehistory/norwegian_migration...

Pennsylvania Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources , Ole Bull State Park http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/olebull.aspx

 

Credit: Courtesy of Potter County Historical Society

Many accounts of New Norway refer to Ole Bull's residence overlooking the town as a castle. In fact, Bull's residence was no more than a temporary wooden cabin

built atop a large stone wall and foundation. Bull planned to build onto his home in the future, but like most of the

other buildings in the colony, his residence fell into disrepair and was then torn down. Today, remnants of the stone

foundation are all that remain of Ole Bull's "castle."

http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-3D5