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Living history | Behind the scenes
Living history
Don't just read about it, live it! Channel 4's Pioneer House is experiential history at its best, enabling viewers to follow courageous volunteers as they recreate the lives of American colonists in the conditions of 400 years ago.
The mission of these present-day adventurers – men, women and children from Britain and the USA – is to create a profitable colony in Maine, New England, just like those of the first European settlers.
Chosen from 10,000 applicants, the 26 pioneers are led by Jeff Wyers, their governor, and Don Heinz, their lay preacher. They arrive in a replica 17th-century ship and move into cramped buildings that have been specially created after years of research by the Plimoth Plantation living history museum.
For four months, they live and work using only tools they would have had access to in 1628. The diet is grim, the weather appalling and the labour backbreaking. The settlers wear authentic 17th-century clothing, have no toilets or baths, and make their own entertainment. Thank goodness someone packed a few kegs of beer.
Not only are living conditions tough, but these colonists have to obey the rigid social hierarchy of the era. They are divided into freemen, who make the decisions, and servants, who must obey. Officially, women have no voice at all.
The laws of the colony are based on Christian religious morality, and our pioneers have to stick to a manual of very strict rules. Sunday is a day of rest from all labour, but everyone must go to church and listen to long sermons. The rules are puritanical and all swearing, even using the word 'crap', is severely punished.
Soon arguments start to break out. Several of the pioneers are unhappy with the rigid class and gender roles, the religious rules, and the restrictive 17th-century laws. And, in everyone's minds there is the constant fear of Native Americans: will they be friendly and help supplement the food our pioneers can grow or will they attack?
So can the pioneers make a go of things? Can they pull together to produce a profit for their investors back in England?
There is more information about the volunteers and how they got on at the Colonial House website.
Behind the scenes: series producer Sallie Clement reveals the highs and lows of working on Pioneer House.
Pioneer House is a follow-up to the hit programmes Edwardian Country House, 1940s House, Frontier House and the award-winning 1900 House. The series was broadcast last summer in the US, and nominated for Best Primetime Reality Show in the 2004 Emmy Awards. It is a Channel 4 co-production with American television stations Thirteen/WNET New York and Wall To Wall Television.
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