Kentucky Pioneers
Kentucky Pioneers is a short film from 1941 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.
This film shows representative aspects of the early pioneering movement into the Kentucky territory. This is the life of our country in the 1780's picturing travel along the wilderness road, the role of the frontier forts, and the settler's establishment of new homes. Weaving, soap-making, cooking, candle molding, carpentry, cabin construction, schooling, and square dancing are among the activities of the time.
VS period piece of late eighteenth or early nineteenth century Kentucky Pioneers trekking through the wilderness and setting up camp. Frontier family with Black slave builds Lincoln log cabin.
15:02:39:26 CU overturned kettle on ashes of campfire; audio track narrates An overturned and abandoned kettle means but one thing, Indians. Pioneer picks up and inspects the kettle.
15:03:39:10 Man wearing leather suit and coonskin hat holding rifle, keeps guard looking out over picket wood log fence of frontier outpost. CU man in coonskin hat scanning landscape. Audio track: here keen eyed sentries keep a constant watch , forever on the lookout for signs of hostile Indians. VS inside frontier outpost community Haren Station.
15:05:01:23 CU Frontierswoman rocking baby s crib and churning butter; CU cute baby being rocked in crib.
15:05:20:10 VS Boy dressed in eighteenth century period clothing milks cow.
15:05:47:07 CU Woman stirs steaming cauldron of liquid with large wooden ladle.
15:96:13:00 CU frontier man uses old-fashioned hand crank wooden drill to drill into a log.
15:06:18:27 Frontiersman in three-cornered hat takes ax off wall in log cabin to show man in leather suit and coonskin hat; CU ax held in strong hands, man presses finger along edge of ax to demonstrates sharpness of the blade.
15:06:25:16 Old man with clunky wood hammer, hammers wood steak into tree stump to make a stool.
15:07:29:15 CU disembodied hand of woman writes on wood paddle in charcoal the letter A; MS frontierswoman holds paddle with charcoaled A on it in front of classroom; classroom of girls in early teens say together A ; CU disembodied woman s hand erase the charcoaled letter A from paddle; CU letter R on paddle, teacher asks group of boys what letter it is, classroom yells out various wrong answers; CU teacher shakes head in disappointment.
15:07:56:02 MS woman works on old-fashioned loom.
15:08:11:01 VS woman pours wax into metal mould to make candles.
15:08:49:18 CU man in leather frontier suit plays quick tune on fiddle or violin as man in background claps along; frontier people dance to the fiddle in circle dance; CU hands clapping to tune; CU scruffy skinny man in coonskin hat yells out directions for dance; CU pair of bare feet tapping to music between to shoed feet tapping.
15:09:30:05 Frontiersman wearing three-cornered hat chopping down tree with ax; boy with ax trims branches of felled tree.
15:09:40:11 Three frontiersmen building log cabin.
15:09:51:28 Black slave of frontiersman chops tree with ax; audio track Henry the faithful Taylor s slave, continues with the tree cutting.
15:09:56:09 VS frontiersmen building log cabin; Man and son fill in gaps between logs with grout.
15:11:14:04 VS Frontier family in doorway of log cabin watching sun set; Father in leather and coonskin hat, Mother and daughter in bonnets, and the young son; setting sun in the West; Father looking off into the distance says to family If things don t go right, we can always move on. Wife looks to husband with concern let s not think about that, not yet.
No. But it s good to know, there will always be freedom, out there.Narrator on audio track over shot of sunset Freedom, out there, always.
| Kentucky Pioneers | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | ERPI Classroom Films, Inc. |
Production companies | ERPI Classroom Films, Inc. |
| Distributed by | ERPI Classroom Films, Inc. |
Release date | 1941 |
Running time | 1 reel |
| Language | English |
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