This past weekend my husband and I escaped from the heat by watching one of our favorite mini-series, Frontier House
If you’ve never watched it, I highly encourage you to do so. It’s fascinating on several different levels. And, in my opinion, the only one of the “house” reproduction-type shows worth watching.
Frontier House Quotes
These are quotes from during the training time and while they were on the actual project.
The thing that’s amazing is how… really a twenty-first century woman isn’t preoccupied with her covering up her body, but she is very preoccupied with putting on the makeup and putting on a mask to hide behind…
Gordon Clune
Four foot by about twelve or fifteen foot. It wouldn’t even fit the books in our house.
Mark Glenn, speaking of their Prairie Schooner wagon
Neighboring is a lost art in our society. We’re such a mobile culture, it’s rare to really get to know your neighbors or invest any great deal of energy into the art of neighboring.
Nate Brooks
I feel like I’m growing up a lot here because like before like if I was in Temecula or California or wherever I used to live like I wouldn’t do anything. I would just sit on my butt and watch TV and I was just a lazy person. But like now that I’m actually doing work I feel like a better person. Like you know I’m actually doing something to help other people.
Tracy Clune
Quotes From After Returning Home
The following quotes are reflections made by the people about two months after they returned to normal life.
In modern life there’s almost too much to choose from so I’m not really sure what to do… We could do anything. We could get a Masters in anything and recreate ourselves and become anything, make any amount of money, have any amount of kids. It’s overwhelming. You know, I’m not sure exactly which one to pick.
Kristen Brooks
You’re a man or a woman working hard in the twenty-first century and your kids don’t know what it is that you do. It’s seamless. They’re isolated from it. And that’s sad… I realized that more so than ever since I’ve been back. But in five months in 1883 I got more satisfaction, more accomplishment, more appreciation than I did my entire career beforehand.
Gordon Clune
I think the year 2001 is kind of boring. Every day I always say I’m bored and my parents get mad at me for it. But there’s nothing to do. There’s just nothing to do here. You get kind of tired of going to the mall every day. And you get kind of tired of doing nothing all day.
Tracy Clune
The twenty-first century you’re bored because there’s so many things. It’s like you have so much stuff that you’re just bored of all of it. In 1883 you have such little stuff that it was like special to you when your mom would buy you stuff and things just for you.
Logan Patton
It’s an unnatural life that the twenty-first century offers us. I think there’s just too much. There’s too much stimulus. The pace and the noise and the…florescent lighting… It’s a bit overwhelming… Your principles, your ideals, your morals… they’re all for sale. I think there’s a lot of problems that we’re just not admitting.
Mark Glenn
Just Because You Can, It Doesn’t Mean You Should
Thanks for the quotes. I especially agree with those last two; we are an over-saturated society. I watched “Frontier House” when it first came on. It was sad to the one marriage dissolve. I hope each person in the project was changed for the better.
“It’s an unnatural life” really struck a chord with me. While I would not want to live without hot showers, air conditioning or fire departments, I do so wish our modern lives were a bit more centered on family. It seems so unnatural to live with so many options. To top it off – most of our society then tells you that you can have it all! HA! What a joke!
Rebecca,
Yes, it was sad to see the Glenn marriage falling apart right in front of your eyes. Even sadder was the fact that Karen Glenn professed to be a Christian and spoke so openly about her church, pastor, etc. and then was so horrible to her husband. A sobering reminder to all of us of how ugly and selfish we can become without the power of the Holy Spirit! (And why I would never let any television producer follow me around to capture all my worst moments on film to be shown around the world!)