The plot of this episode, like many others, was taken from the Bonanza (staring Micheal Landon) episode Silent Thunder of season 2
Second appearance of Lou Fant as Nathaniel's father. He was in a previous episode called the wedding the Reverend conducting the wedding of Mary.
Alban Branton, who plays Daniel, was deaf in real life. Branton was a 1981 graduate of the California School for the Deaf, and he later worked for the school for 18 years, before his unexpected death in 2016.