At the Marie Antoinette Lookout on a high point along Route six in Bradford County, the view is as vast as it is peaceful. A meandering Susquehanna River surrounded by rolling Pennsylvania mountains, a stark contrast to what the scenic area might have become. In the fall of 1793, French refugees were looking to escape the revolution. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, a group of investors both supported the cause and saw a business opportunity.
They purchased 1600 acres of land to establish French Azilum. By the following spring, dozens of houses had been built there. One of them, the biggest and most grand, specifically for Marie Antoinette, had she survived the revolution and escaped, which she did not. The little French town in the woods of Pierre was short lived today, although no structures survived.
