CSU, Chico News

Donald Heinz, professor of religious studies and former dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, and Carolyn Heinz, professor of anthropology, participated in Public Broadcasting System’s hands-on history series “Colonial House,” filmed in the summer of 2003. The site of the filming was a rocky bluff overlooking an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean outside Machias, Maine.

The eight-episode series will air on PBS, 6-10 p.m., on May 17, 18, 24 and 25. That will be the first time the Heinzes see the final version of their almost five-month sojourn as Puritans. They are curious about the final cut and whether PBS will choose “good TV” over authentic history.

The Heinzes lived with 22 other colonists in a reproduction of one of the first Puritan colonies in 1628. The production company hired consultants from Plimouth (the original spelling) Plantation near Boston, who spent almost a year researching the period and were committed to authentic housing, food, dress, laws, work, economic survival and religious activity.

The Heinzes first learned about the series from Carolyn’s daughter, who recommended it to them. Since religion was central to the organization of daily life of the Puritan colony, Don Heinz, a Lutheran minister, and Carolyn Heinz, an anthropologist with experience observing and documenting primitive communities, looked forward to participating in a different kind of community and watching the production from the inside.

“In my case, as a professor of religious studies, I was very intent that they get 17th century religion right. I thought, well, here’s my chance,” said Don Heinz.

“As a cultural anthropologist, I frequently go overseas to study other cultures, and this seemed like an interesting variance on that experience. Is it possible for 21st century Americans to even try this? That’s what drew me to the project,” said Carolyn Heinz. “Also, I wanted to see the inside of this kind of a production. Production will be telling our story of five months in eight hours, which is what an anthropologist does when he or she goes abroad.”

The Heinzes lived in a one-room house with a dirt floor, thatched roof and one tiny window. They said the location was beautiful but not viable as a colony site because there was no source of water and the soil was poor. The only thing that grew there were billions of blueberries, which they ate every day for months.

They prepared and ate authentic food. Carolyn, as the preacher’s wife, did most of the food preparation (not only for the two of them, but for many others in the community), wood gathering and fire tending. They had three cooking utensils per household, six goats for the colony and 30 chickens, which produced about an egg a day apiece. The colony had 500 pounds of dried peas, coarse flour that made wonderful bread, according to Carolyn, a little corn meal, barrels of salt pork, salt beef and salt cod.

The story was that the colonists were backed by an early venture capitalist effort, a joint stock company from Bristol, England. This was the earliest form of corporation, like the East India Company. The time period for the story was 1628, only 20 years after the founding of the very successful East India Company. The joint stock company paid the way, provided colonists with goods and supplied them with food in ships that came every few weeks.

In return, the colonists were to develop moneymaking industries in the New World. The modern-day colonists knew from historical records that any economic venture from England expected that there would be three kinds of resources: furs, timber and fish. However, the chosen site had been all hunted and fished out.

When it became clear that there was no viable hunting or fishing, the colonists switched to what they did have, which was lumber. There were about 600 spruce logs already cut. The young men, especially, and some men in their forties spent most of their days cutting or trimming the wood that was theoretically to be sent back to England.

“In the five months we were there, we had to produce enough goods to send back to England that would pay off 50 pounds of debt. That was our goal,” said Carolyn. ” In the end, we did pay back about 31 of the 50 pounds. As far as we can tell a two-thirds payback was better than any colony in history would have done in its first five months.”

The series will cover the religious life of the colony, the laws that governed the colonists, including punishments for not attending church and the conflicts that arose among the colonists around such issues as church attendance.

The “Colonial House” Web site is at www.pbs.org/wnet/colonialhouse.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 5th, 2004 at 8:30 am and is filed under 2004 Spring.