I’m sure some of you have watched the “House” series on PBS. They started back in 1999 with The 1900 House, where a modern 1990s family went back in time and lived for 3 months as Victorians. The house, in a London suburb, was completely re-done as it would have been in 1900. The family had to live within those confines as well. Netflix recommended it to me, and I finished watching it this weekend. It was FASCINATING. If you haven’t watched it, I highly recommend it.
I think the main thing that stuck out was the immense volume of work involved in keeping the household. The mother of the family said it took 3 full days to do laundry. And that was really only underclothes and linens because they didn’t wash their dresses very often. That is crazy! I get annoyed when laundry takes two hours! Then there’s the absence of most products to keep oneself clean. That would drive me crazy. I guess if you didn’t know any different, it wouldn’t seem weird, but to go back in time now, I would have a hard time living without cleaning products, shampoo, deodorant and especially lotion and lip balm!
Following The 1900 House, PBS/BBC produced other experiments: Frontier House, Colonial House, Manor House, and a couple of others. Frontier House is on its way to me now. It follows three families who live as homesteaders and have to prepare for winter. It seems very Little House on the Prairie. I’m so excited to see it!
So my question to everyone is…if you had to participate in a similar experiment during any time in history…what time frame would you choose?
2 comments:
1980s House. I would play Space Invaders all day.
I love Frontier House. I watched that series when it first aired on PBS a few years ago. I watched the Texas one too - Ranch House? It was awful. I've seen a few wpisodes of the Victorian one and the Edwardian one - Manor House. As fascinated as I am by the past, watching some of these shows has convinced me that I'd rather not live in it, thank you very much. The food! The sanitation! The inevitable smells! I couldn't take it.
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