I defninitely did not think Colonial House was as watchable as Frontier House. However, I was dissatisfied with both for their focus more on human interplay that the skills, and history of the day.

I thought a woman like Mrs. Voorhees should never have signed up for a project like this, as she was unwilling assume the roles of the time. It seems to me that if a person doesn't believe in something, it should make no difference to them to hear about it. I mean I don't believe the earth is flat, and I am indifferent to a flat earth being discussed, and can even find humor in such a supposition. Therefore it seems to me, that she could have managed to sit through some things she didn't believe. However, it is my contention that she knows the truth of Christianity in her heart, and was uncomfortable having that truth pointed out to her. That was the issue. Otherwise there would have been no need to run away from the services.

Mr. Voorhees- I felt sorry for this man. He was obviously being controlled by his wife. He seemed to be a puppet on which she pulled the strings. Yes she "allowed" him to attend services, but she certainly didn't listen to his opinion on the subject, and half the time she was transplanting her own opinion onto him.

The Wyers Family- I thought these people exemplfied Christ, both in their actions, and also in their reactions. If you would like to read a wonderful account of their time in the colony check out this link.

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=18336 (hot link at bottom of page)

Just the Wyer's reaction to the tragedies facing them was a true witness of their faith. I wish we could have seen more about them in the series, how they lived, social interaction. I fully believe that they shared Christ in not only their words, but also their actions.

Jonathan Allen- I felt that his "coming out" in a church service was tacky at best. There were more appropriate places to make an announcement of this sort. In addition, I felt that this was a deliberate attention grab. He seemed to struggle the whole show with not getting enough attention. Whether it was from the people he was indentured to, or others in the colony. In addition, I really feel saddened by his turning away from his faith, as that will cost him much later. I also feel for his family, and I pray for them. I pray that one day he will come to the point where he is ready to seek after God's will, rather than self will.

The Heinz- Mr. Heinz would have preferred to be governor from the first, and I would have preferred to see Jeff Wyers be pastor. I was unimpressed with this man's leadership capability. I think he is a typical accademic, all thought, and little action. I think he and his wife live under a take what you like from the bible, and throw the rest away mentality. I think this doctrine seeps into every part of their lives, and also made it necessary for the "company" to send in reenforcements.

Unfortunately, because of the way the colony was depicted, I didn't seem to get much of an attachment to anyone. It was rather hard to follow, as there wre always people coming and going. The whole show seemed rather disjointed, and at times annoyingly so. I was appalled with the lack of intelligence these people exhibited when it came to feeding themselves. There was food all around them, and yet they were mostly content to live on their stores until the guy came at the end to get things moving along.

In addition I was struck by the general selfishness, that was exhibited. The colony would have moved along a lot faster, and to better aim if people could have set aside their various selfish concerns, and pulled together sooner. It was in interesting view into how groups of people function together in our society. In the real colonies, with death in the offing, there wouldn't have been time for much of this selfishness.

I felt this was a sad commentary on the actual skills of life back then. The goats were interesting. Did they have Alpines in colonial times? Did they bring milk goats? Would somebody please explain to me why those goats required screaming at? Where was the cheese? Have you EVER seen such poor fisherman. They even had hooks! Amazing. Where were the fishing nets? I could have caught more fish standing on shore than these guys did from a boat! Nate and Rudy in Frontier house built an entire cabin with just two of them in almost as little time, than these guys did with ten men. It took 10 men 4 weeks to build that little cabin! My goodness.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little Bit Farm (littlebit@brightok.net), May 26, 2004

Answers

Heck, Judy, as you well know, I feed half that many 3 times a day, 7 days a week! Seems to me that even if you had that many women in the kitchen is should have taken one third the time to get it all done!

Little Bit Farm

-- Little Bit Farm (littlebit@brightok.net), June 01, 2004.

Nate and Rudy built a log cabin. After watching how they built the house in Colonial times, I now know why everyone went to log cabins. MUCH faster! 8-)

And, yes, they DID have goats in Colonial times, but they were not well thought of. People thought that if kids drank goats milk, they would get stubborn. Or, so a historian once told me.

They SHOULD have planned on growing more crops. 50 bushels per acre was thought to be quite good before the days of bagged fertilizer, and I bet they could have traded corn in the late winter.

I ALSO think that 50 bushels would not have provided for the colony for the winter. What is that, 2 bushels each, more or less? NOT! enough!

On the other hand, in one way it WAS historically accurate. Many of the origional colonies were set up for commerce, but they found that they just did not have TIME for commerce after putting up houses and getting enough food. Not enough hours in the day.

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), May 27, 2004.

I agree with all the above commentary. I think one way they "missed" was in thinking that to build community all projects must be attacked as a group. There time would have been better spent, and I think with better accountability from all involved, if they'ld broken into teams: a work crew for money-making projects, a couple of hunter/gatherer/fisherman, a couple of farmer/gardners - like they sort of ended up doing in the end. The idea that it took 3 women to feed 12 people daily made me giggle. I've cooked over an open fire with no refrigeration and no running water for an extended period and I know I could have fed 12 people as easily as I was feeding 3. The series would have kept a bit more of a sense of the period of people who didn't follow the rules were sent home. There was no real way to maintain discipline the way it was set up. Food rations, in my opinion, should have been divided. One part set aside and one part divided among the households at the beginning. It's probably not the way it was done in the colonies, but it could have possibly shed a bit of light among these people that the storehouse contents really were finite. I thought it was interesting when the Indians brought the muskrat. I thought it was kind of a hint, sort of "We know stuff, why don't you ask us." It never even dawned on the colonists that there might be more delicacies in the forest.

-- Judy (tabletophomestead@earthlink.net), May 28, 2004.

Well I did not like the show either, I agree there was no main character that you could even get close to or follow to see how they were coping with everything. I think we on this forum could have managed the time and the work a lot better. I think that when the colonials first came to settle , that they surely were more organized then this show depicted them . I also think that when they make these shows , that they should select people that could be there longer. I think it would be so informative to see how they would manage at least threw one growing season and a winter to see, if they had raised enough crops and animals to survive. Lauraleah

-- Lauraleah (lauraleah@mo-net.com), June 01, 2004.

I was very disappointed in the series (after waiting for months to see it!). Far too much emphasis on the social workings and too little on getting some real work done. Worst of all was when the sheep arrived and I thought, good, their instructors probably showed them at least the basics of shearing and spinning...and instead, it was all about roast mutton. *Sigh*.

-- Christine (cytrowbridge@zianet.com), June 11, 2004.