Colonial House (TV series)

Colonial House is an American reality series produced by Thirteen/WNET New York and Wall to Wall Television in the United Kingdom, following the success of "The 1900 House", an exercise in vicarious "experiential history" that is characteristic of an attempt to provide an educational version of popular reality television. It aired on PBS in the United States and on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom in 2004.
Overview.
The series, intended to recreate daily life in Plymouth Colony in 1628 along the lines of the recreated Plimoth Plantation, brought home to viewers the rigors of life for colonists in the early 17th century. The show was videotaped in a 1000-acre isolated area near Machias, Maine, and featured colonists and several members of the current Passamaquoddy tribe of Maine. Historians from Plimoth Plantation and Maine historian and archaeologist Emerson Baker of Salem State College helped to make the setting as accurate as possible.
Seventeen applicants were chosen out of thousands to join the project. Most of the participants were American, though there were some British citizens as well. The project began in spring and was set to run for five months.
Colonists.
Original Colony:
Additional Colonists:
Provisions.
The colonists were provided with four houses of varying sizes and comfort level, as well as chickens, goats and casks of dried provisions such as ship's biscuit, 500 lbs of salted fish, and 1000 lbs of salted pork. For main staples they were given a ton of wheat and half a ton each of oats and dried peas. Drink was also communal and rationed: 1 firkin of wine, 1 firkin of aqua vitae, and 1 barrel of beer. In the first episode, the colonists trade with the Passamaquoddy people to secure a supply of maize (indian corn) to be planted in the large field near the settlement. The corn was planted on mounds instead of rows, in keeping with the First Nations traditional method.
Social Hierarchy.
In keeping with the social order of the 17th century, the Governor of the colony was appointed by the Colony to have full authority over the other colonists. The Freemen were property-holding men who were asked to give council in meetings. Women, indentured servants and children were neither allowed at the meetings nor given any political power. In 'Colonial House', though, the women were unsatisfied with losing all of their modern rights and spied on the Freemen's meetings and started to hold women's meetings themselves. After the Wyers family leave in Episode 2, the women begin to bargain for a more fair split of labor, which is resisted by the Freemen and Acting Governor.
Although mandated by law to attend Christian church services on Sunday, the participants in the project are of varied beliefs, which causes some tension. The Wyers family is strongly Christian while Michelle Voorhees steadfastly refuses to "say the words" of the Christian prayers.
Events.
Episode One
Episode Two
Episode Three
Episode Four
Episode Five
Episode Six
Episode Seven
Episode Eight
New Zealand version.
A New Zealand version of the series was produced by TVNZ. The series features the Huttons from South Otago, a 21st-century family chosen to 'time travel' back to 1852 to live in a colonial house.