The Awakening Land

The storyline follows the struggle of Sayward Luckett (Montgomery) as she travels to the unsettled Ohio Valley wilderness from post-revolutionary Pennsylvania. The series takes Sayward from a young single woman, unexpectedly left with three sisters to raise, to a married woman who becomes a mother of seven. Her faithful devotion to her family is recounted against the day-to-day struggle for survival.

The series was shot in historic New Salem, Illinois. Interiors were filmed in a gymnasium in Springfield, Illinois. The gym was also used to house the prop and wardrobe departments. Filming took 2-┬╜ months. The Springfield city council agreed to fill up a nearby lake so it would resemble the Ohio River as an incentive for the production company to choose the area. Animals from the Elgin Zoo were also shipped to the set.

Elizabeth Montgomery ... Sayward Luckett Wheeler
Hal Holbrook ... Portius Wheeler
Jane Seymour ... Genny Luckett
Steven Keats ... Jake Tench
Louise Latham ... Jary Luckett
William H. Macy ... Will Beagle
Jeanette Nolan ... Granny McWhirter
Bert Remsen ... Isaac Barker
Charles Gowan ... Alan Hamilton
Sean Frye ... Resolve Wheeler, as youth
Tracy Kleronomos ... Dezia Wheeler
Katy Kurtzman ... Rosa Tench
Byrne Piven ... Dr. Pearsall
Julie Gibson ... Lady Peddler