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This family pasted a photograph of themselves into an old Western book.
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A father tells us what he would most enjoy on the Frontier. |
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Written by Mark Saben, Series Associate Producer
 he selection process for FRONTIER HOUSE has to be
one of the most challenging I have been involved with
during my time in television. Having performed the
same role in THE 1900 HOUSE I thought I would be ready
for anything FRONTIER HOUSE could throw at me.
After a gruelling trawl through over 5,000 applications
and visiting all four corners of the United States,
taking in 20 states in three months for interviews, I
can safely say that I feel we have conducted an
exhaustive search for the participants for FRONTIER HOUSE.
What has struck us all on the production team was the
outstanding quality of applications for the project.
It has been very reassuring to know that this
project has such a broad appeal and has seemed to
strike a chord with the American people. The
opportunity for people to take a covered wagon out
West certainly has an appealing romantic notion, but
did people really understand the harsh existence that
many homesteaders had to endure?
 | | This handmade shawl accompanied the application of the woman who made it. |
People seemed
undeterred by the prospect of building their own log
cabin, milking cows, cooking on a woodstove, and
ploughing fields. Applications came flooding in from
every state in the U.S. The Top five applicant states
were New York (373), California (253), Ohio (185), New
Jersey (151), and Texas (150). We even had applications
from as far a field as England, Czech Republic,
France, and Uruguay.
As you might expect, the applications were many and
varied, from women willing to conceive and give birth
on the frontier to teenagers applying alone
because their parents were "too boring" to consider
being involved in such an adventure. The more mature
applicants were also well represented, with a good
number coming in from men and women in their seventies
and eighties. Applications came in all manner of
different guises: within miniature replica log cabins,
on parchment, and more.  We even had one made out of
chocolate bar wrappers! People were keen to display
their skills, attaching samples of their handiwork,
woodcraft, freshly tanned hides, rendered lard,
homemade soap and candles. People's motivations for
participating on the project were fascinating. We had
countless applications from people who felt that they
were born in the wrong century. Many felt that the
pace of modern-day life was dizzyingly fast and
impersonal; they saw this as an opportunity to slow
down, get out of the rat race, and try to discover
what we might have lost along the way.
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