The Hermit of Buena Vista
‘Buena Vista’ Marker Near Pigeon
Tribute to Noble French Recluse
Whitehall, Wis.— “Buena Vista.” These two words inscribed on a monument which stands on a high ridge overlooking highway 53 between Pigeon Falls and Osseo have stumped motorists for years.
What do they mean? It doesn't take tourists long to figure out that the words mean "beautiful view.”
Why are they there? They seldom, if ever, get the correct answer to this question.
The monument was erected more than 20 years ago by the late H. A. Anderson and B. M. Sletteland, pioneer settlers of this area. It was erected in memory of a man named Nicolas Bourlier de la Chevalle, a Frenchman who came to the Pigeon community near the end of the Civil war and “homesteaded” in the narrow valley just east of where the monument now standi.
Found Respite in Valley
Valley legends concerning the Frenchman gre many and conflicting. According to an historical account written by Anderson and submitted to the House of Memories, Whitehall museum which he founded. Bourlier was a man who found respite in the valley from a world which had treated him with little kindness.
According to Anderson's account, Bourlier, upon moving to this region, first dug a hole in the hillside near a tamarack swamp and later dug a similar habitation farther up the hill, and there lived until his death.
Stories immediately sprang up concerning this stranger who lived in such a primitive manner and who seldom associated with others.
Anderson, then still a youth, decided to visit the recluse. It was not until after Bourlier's death, however, that he learned the noble beginning of the Frenchman’s life.
From his personal papers, Anderson learned that Bourlier was a member of the French nobility and that his family’s ancestral chateau was named “Buena Vista.” Books in French, Latin, German and English as well as medical treatises found in the underground lodgings, suggested Bourlier was an educated man.
Duped by Associates
More papers indicated Bourlier had been duped by his associates in a mercantile business venture shortly before he moved into the hills. Anderson believed that this incident caused him to renounce the world.
In his account of the Frenchman, Anderson said, “In all business dealings, Bourlier was simple and straightforward as a child. He was easily taken in. Shortly before his death, I had occasion to untangle a deal which he had made greatly to his disadvantage.”
One morning in 1891, neighbors failed to see smoke rising from the recluse's dugout. One of them found Bourlier’s frozen body kneeling by the stove where evidently he had been trying to build a fire.
He was buried far from his ancestral “Buena Vista.”
That’s why the two words appear on the monument.
(from the March 25, 1946, Winona [Minn.] Republican-Herald)
Tribute to Noble French Recluse
Whitehall, Wis.— “Buena Vista.” These two words inscribed on a monument which stands on a high ridge overlooking highway 53 between Pigeon Falls and Osseo have stumped motorists for years.
What do they mean? It doesn't take tourists long to figure out that the words mean "beautiful view.”
Why are they there? They seldom, if ever, get the correct answer to this question.
The monument was erected more than 20 years ago by the late H. A. Anderson and B. M. Sletteland, pioneer settlers of this area. It was erected in memory of a man named Nicolas Bourlier de la Chevalle, a Frenchman who came to the Pigeon community near the end of the Civil war and “homesteaded” in the narrow valley just east of where the monument now standi.
Found Respite in Valley
Valley legends concerning the Frenchman gre many and conflicting. According to an historical account written by Anderson and submitted to the House of Memories, Whitehall museum which he founded. Bourlier was a man who found respite in the valley from a world which had treated him with little kindness.
According to Anderson's account, Bourlier, upon moving to this region, first dug a hole in the hillside near a tamarack swamp and later dug a similar habitation farther up the hill, and there lived until his death.
Stories immediately sprang up concerning this stranger who lived in such a primitive manner and who seldom associated with others.
Anderson, then still a youth, decided to visit the recluse. It was not until after Bourlier's death, however, that he learned the noble beginning of the Frenchman’s life.
From his personal papers, Anderson learned that Bourlier was a member of the French nobility and that his family’s ancestral chateau was named “Buena Vista.” Books in French, Latin, German and English as well as medical treatises found in the underground lodgings, suggested Bourlier was an educated man.
Duped by Associates
More papers indicated Bourlier had been duped by his associates in a mercantile business venture shortly before he moved into the hills. Anderson believed that this incident caused him to renounce the world.
In his account of the Frenchman, Anderson said, “In all business dealings, Bourlier was simple and straightforward as a child. He was easily taken in. Shortly before his death, I had occasion to untangle a deal which he had made greatly to his disadvantage.”
One morning in 1891, neighbors failed to see smoke rising from the recluse's dugout. One of them found Bourlier’s frozen body kneeling by the stove where evidently he had been trying to build a fire.
He was buried far from his ancestral “Buena Vista.”
That’s why the two words appear on the monument.
(from the March 25, 1946, Winona [Minn.] Republican-Herald)