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 THE SET
Recreating the 1690s Village of Salem in the New Millennium
There were definite challenges involved in visually recreating a village that existed in the 1690s, but Production Designer Nancey Pankiw rose to the occasion. With just five weeks of prep time and a talented team of set decorators, set dressers, carpenters and painters, Pankiw managed to recreate the world of 1691 through 1693 Salem.
Pankiw selected Upper Canada Village, a historical park in Cornwall, Ontario, as the backdrop for the film's Salem Village exteriors. The site has a large geographical infrastructure, which includes plowed fields, row fences, a river, dirt roads and old trees. But, since the architecture of the period depicted in the film was based on English Tudor, facades needed to be built and affixed to the existing structures in the Village.
Pankiw's research included a visit to Salem to study some authentic existing structures. She also referenced a series of books such as Architectural Treasures of Early America (Architecture in New England) and Everyday Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which she found to be superb sources of pictorial references. Seventeenth Century scholar Phil Dunning, the Director of Material Culture Department for Parks Canada, also offered some vital information.
Pankiw came to discover that the homes of that time all had a central fireplace with rooms on either side with whitewashed walls. Wealthy people merely had houses with higher ceilings, or more nails in the doors. For the purposes of the film, subtle variations in color, details and furnishings were used in order to differentiate the homes of the various characters. From illustrations and photographs, her team recreated the Salem Village Meeting House -- a multi-functional structure that served as a church for Reverend Parris' congregation on Sundays.
Pankiw's research also uncovered the fact that the first settlers in Massachusetts lived in caves and, over time, progressed to dugouts, before adapting the Indian style of home -- the wigwam. It was not until much later that they started to build their houses. Because Brigit Bishop, who was called Salem's "white witch," still made her home in a wigwam, Pankiw's team constructed one for the mini-series. |
