The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1884-01-30
OLE BULLS LONELY CASTLE
AND THE RUINS or HIS COLONY.
Strange Stories About the Famous Fiddler
His Music Hall In Oleonn-Tbe SPLEEN
did View from Ills Fayorite Room 10
the Castle.

small villages, New Bergen, Oleona and
New Norway. Thirty years ago these
were thriving settlements, founded and
governed by the famous violinist Ole
Bull. Ole Bull purchased tract Of
land forty miles square, and brought
over 600 or 600 OF his couDtrymen to
make settlement in that region, which
is not unlike Norway, with its rocky
sleeps, fertile valleys, and evergreen
foliage.
A short distance from New Bergen is
Oleona, which was 10 be the capital OF
the new territory that Ole Bull intended
10 govern, and near which his residence,
known IA the Castle, was built. The vii
lage was placed on small plateau. A
fair sized stream, fed by mountain
springs, always furnished an abundance
Of pure water, and although surrounded
by hills, the plateau on which the vii
lage stood is large enough for good
sized town. But the town was never
built. and even the little thrifty village
could not hold its own after its founder
and patron neglected it. Gradually it
WAS deserted, the tenaLts moving away
one after another, until now there IL lit
tie left except three or four houses, the
hotel, and one store.
The hotel is kept by pleasant, intel
ligent, and thrifty.looking Norwegian,
who says 1t was built by Ole Bull, who
Mt one time had n music hall attached to
IL, where he treated the settlers to such
music rs he never gave elsewhere. The
hall has been torn down for frewood,
and the admirers Of the great musician,
whose strains Of melody seem to have
been wasted in spot like that, can only
see the foundations and wish il had been
spared Ms n relic. The hotel in n ram
bling two.story frame building with
small rooms. II was either built one
room at time, or else without any
definite plan, M il IL remarkable for its
careless arrangement. The windows ARE
OF all sizes, the doors Of all widths, and
the ceilings vary in height from seven to
ten feet; but there il, after all, n touch
Of originality about it that commands
respect
Not far from the hotel, between the
store and the stream, is the home Of Il
wealthy Norwegian who came to this
country to stay. He settled among the
lumbermen. after the discontented
grumblers had gone away, and has sue
ceeded in making his fortune in wilder
ness where many men could not live si'
months He is the owner Of the villag
store, which IN filled with an attractv
stock OF cheap goods such as lumber
men and BpOrtsmen arc likely 10 need
His home is pleasant and tidy, an,
everything about his place tells Of thrift
and enterprise. He does not believe Oh,
story which has been told by ccrtail
patriotic Norscmen 10 the eject thai
fraud was practiced upon Ole Bull whcl
he bought the lands in Potter comfy
whereby nm imperfect title was given
This, the storckceper says. IL "cocl
and bull story" The facts are that OF,
Bull rendered in payment for the prop
erty certain drafts upon bankers who
either failed in business or would no
honor the drafts, and for this reason th,
owners Of the land took back their prop
erty. This il not the usual version o
tho story Of the failure Of the colony
One thing is certain, as the records u
Potter county show, the settlers did no
got good title TO their property, and thi
led eventually to the disarmament Of ia
colOnists, but whether il was tho fault q
Ole Bull or Of some other person n
mains an unsettled question.
Two miles below Oleona after n driv
~ thn pnll tuIp a
through wooded parks where the phcas
ant drums amid tangles Of alder, elem
ATS and sumac, We reach New Norway
the last Of the three settlements. From
here Ole Bulls CASTLE can be sccn on NJ
emincnce midway between New Norwa,
md Oleonn. From his castle window
the mild ruler Of this little realm coul,
see his men ut work in the valley below
II we except one small house, il in SAT-
TO say that New Norway in entirely gone
with nothing left bchiud but the clcare,
plain and here and there the moss
grown stone foundations of an old hous
long since rotted away. The village an
the villagers arc gone, but even now
looking at the level, grass. grown phir
one can imagine that it must have bee
apretty place with green lawns and fin
yards, Tor the ground is rich and mois
bearing luxuriant grass even in the DIR
eat weather.
A crooked road leading to the ruins I
the castle leaves tho main highway neI
New Norway and runs 10y IN cnsy Rrnc
10 the summit Of the monninlus. FrOr
here the view IL grand, and ii IN no won
der Ole Bull was fond of this retreat.
The castle was pecuharly-shaped house
with square towers at the corners II
was built Of stone and logs, and was cle'
gantly fitted up. His favoritc room,
whore he used TO sit for hours, com
mnndcd view that is unsurpassed in
that part of Pennsylvania. Far away the
Blue kidgo Mountains stretch like n
limo of smoke along the horizon; the
foot hills roll away in great pillows ;
nearer are tho forests of beech, chestnut
maple and oak, with their ever changing
foliage, and directly Mt the base of thu
mountain stretch the checkcred fields o
wheat and corn, through which tn
mountain stream winds its way like
silver thread. To the left Of the castl
is another stream, running through
narrow chasm, across which is seen M
other mountain, whose top il but ha
visible through the soft, blue haze thu
surrounds it, while several miles TO tn
west il still another peak, apparent
thrown directly across the stream as
10 keep il from leaving 80 delightful
spot, and whose summit seems highe
than any of the others, towering up unit
its blue top appears TO gradually be
come lost in the sky that it resembles III
color.
1t was in this room that the great
musician spent whole year, and his
friends say that the bItcrest disappoint.
ment OF his life was the awakening from
the dream Of great colony in this fav-
ored spot He had hoped to found n
large, prosperous and reputable settle
ment. and Ind been told that the NOM.
tains about here were filed with gold
and silver and other ores. The colonistf
believed the wonderful stories he told
them Of this FL Dorado in the new west