Hooked on History: Mini-series brought Hollywood to the Tuscarawas Valley in 1978

During the summer of 1978, 13-year-old Scott Birney of Tappan Lake was viewed as a movie star.

Birney was one of eight youngsters from the Tuscarawas Valley who were featured in a segment of the NBC-TV miniseries "Centennial," portions of which were filmed in Tuscarawas and Coshocton counties. The children portrayed orphans, and they shot their scenes at an old farmhouse — long torn down — near Winfield.

"It was just a really cool experience. It was really fun," said Birney, who now lives outside of Dennison.

Based on a novel by James A. Michener

"Centennial," based on a 1974 novel by James A. Michener, tells the story of a fictional town in Colorado from 1795 to the 1970s. It aired on NBC from October 1978 to February 1979.

One of the characters in the mini-series was Levi Zendt, a Pennsylvania Mennonite who leaves his home to settle in the west in 1846. Gregory Harrison was featured as Zendt, and Stephanie Zimbalist played his wife, Elly.

The Tuscarawas Valley was chosen for filming because of its authenticity in portraying the Lancaster County area of Pennsylvania in the 1840s. Besides the house in Winfield, scenes were also shot at Roscoe Village in Coshocton, a farm near Port Washington and in Wilkshire Hills.

Universal City Studios officials estimated that they spent around $300,000 ($1.4 million in 2024 dollars) while they were filming here. Expenses included dredging a portion of the Tuscarawas River near Wilkshire Hills to film a covered wagon crossing the river.

More than 100 local people served as extras. One family made $150 in one day by having their four children walk around Roscoe Village. They also got lunch. By all accounts, the food was excellent.

3,000 people applied to be extras

Birney got involved in the show because his mother, Shelva, saw an article in the paper that the studio was looking for extras. So, they traveled to New Philadelphia to the Holiday Inn, where applications were being taken. Around 3,000 people applied to be extras. "It was a zoo," he recalled.

He provided his name, address and a photo. For the orphanage scene, the studio was seeking children who looked like they were Amish. "I had poker straight blond hair, not a curl in it," Birney said.

The woman taking applications put the photos in a large box, but she put Birney's in a shoebox. A month and a half later, his family got a call from the studio that he had been hired.

Earning $25 a day

Birney, who was about to enter the eighth grade, and the other children had no lines in the show, but they were featured in a couple of scenes. Filming lasted three days. He was paid $25 a day for his work.

"We did this one take where I carried this bucket of water across the yard from the house over to the side of the yard. That one didn't even go in. They cut that out, but I bet we filmed that thing 15 times," he said.

He recalled that Harrison and Zimbalist were good to the children. "They were such nice people. My mom got to know her pretty well. She baked her a loaf of bread." Zimbalist later sent him a hand-written note, thanking him for his work.

"All that summer and after that I was a movie star. When I went back to school, everybody asked me about it," he said.

Birney has never acted since. A 1983 graduate of Jewett-Scio High School, he now works for MPLX Pipeline out of Cadiz.

Filming at Roscoe Village

Joe Mizer, a veteran reporter for The T-R, wrote several stories for the paper while the "Centennial" crew was in the area. He, along with his wife, Diana, his daughter Carla (then 6 years old) and his father-in-law, Robert Parks, worked as extras in the scenes shot at Roscoe Village.

"The filming in Roscoe Village was unique because they made it look like a town in the 1800s, the dirt street, the Conestoga wagons," he said. "I remember it was a very hot day, and dressed in that outfit that we were in, wool coats. Looking back, it was worth it."

His family spent one day during filming at Roscoe. They also went to watch filming of the scenes at Winfield and the river crossing at Wilkshire Hills.

"It was just a very interesting experience, one of the highlights of being a newspaperman. There were a few others, but nothing quite like this," Mizer said.

Jon Baker is a reporter for The Times-Reporter and can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: NBC mini-series 'Centennial' filmed in Tuscarawas Valley in 1978