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Ole Bull Museum

The Ole Bull Museum originated on a small piece of land at Carter Camp, Pennsylvania.
The original museum opened in 1962, 10 years after the commencement of the music festival. The different small buildings were built to celebrate different facets of Norwegian life.

Each year thereafter, the two women would travel to Pennsylvania together and open the museum during the summer, promoting the Norwegian culture and living in a one bedroom cabin as the original settlers had in 1852. The women were known for serving cookies and lemonade to each visitor while dressed in outfits that Norwegian ladies of that time period would have worn.

The buildings presently on the museum site are:

  • Tthe “ski hut” — a replica of a village home in Oleana.
  • The Ole Bull Castle — a replica of a 12th century viking home
  • The Ole Bull Chapel
  • The Ole Bull Doll House where mother kept her dolls.
  • A US Post Office with the name “Oleana Antarctica”
  • Stabbur Hus — a 1990 replica of a 1000 year old Norsk Storage Building
  • The Mother Goose House — a “Mother Goose Bed and Breakfast” which celebrates Aurora Bull’s 10 years singing “Mother Goose” songs on WOR radio in New York City

Aurora Bull was the voice of “Mother Goose” on the radio, singing songs every Sunday at 6pm for 10 years, and because of that she’s listed in the “Who’s Who” as a radio pioneer. After Aurora’s death in 1976, Dr. Inez Bull continued alone manning the museum each summer until a fall in late 2009 that ended her stay there.

The Board of Directors of the “Spunky Norwegian Foundation” has determined that the museum will continue to operate in Potter County Pennsylvania. The museum’s buildings will be updated and changed this year, and as a result of the Celebration of Life for Dr. Bull, the museum may delay its 2010 opening, or postpone the grand re-opening until the summer of 2011. The Board will continue also to promote the wearing of authentic Norwegian clothes and the serving of cookies and lemonade when the museum re-opens.

Pictures of the museum buildings will be posted here later this summer.

The Ole Bull Museum
79 S. Cherry Springs Rd
Galeton, PA 16922-9457