# How did folk "on the American frontier" view travelers/home security? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 26, 2025, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-folk-on-the-american-frontier-view-travelers-home-security/1025148 "2025-11-26T12:54:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-folk-on-the-american-frontier-view-travelers-home-security/1025148/1 "2025-11-26T12:54:49Z")
My initial thought is the western frontier - from either the Little House books or westerns. But I suppose this could apply to folk crossing the Cumberland Gap in the late 1700s, or any other period of expansion. I’m thinking of someone who lives rather far from any neighbors, and quite a distance from any town. I specify the American frontier, because my understanding is that some non-American cultures perceive a duty to provide succor to passers-by. But if folk want to take the discussion in that direction, I guess that is fine. If you are such a person and you see someone coming on horseback. Do you view them as someone you can help out? A potential source of news? A potential threat? I have a sense of a meme that travelers were invited in for a meal, conversation, and a place to sleep - but that certainly differs from my perception of how travelers would be treated these days. If my perception of how Americans today view unfamiliar passers-by is incorrect, I am happy to be corrected. And when the pioneering homesteader left home for a long hunting trip or into town, did they take any steps to secure their belongings? Was theft a significant issue? Does history record frequent instances of homesteaders falling victim to traveling thieves or murderers? Or - perhaps conversely, travelers falling victim to nefarious homesteaders? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-folk-on-the-american-frontier-view-travelers-home-security/1025148)._