There are two (2) roads running north/south on the Outer Banks. The "Beach Road" (NC 12) is a 2-lane road with a speed limit of 35 MPH. The "Bypass" (US 158) is a 5-lane road with speed limits 45-50 MPH.
The parcel of land that The Creek sits on today was once owned by the Matinecocks, an Alogonquin tribe whose name meant "the land of the overlooks." In 1664 the British gained control of Long Island and Manhattan and purchased 250 acres of that Matinecock land, which was eventually divided and sold to seven families of settlers in 1667. One of the settlers was William Simson, who sold his parcel to the Frost family in 1674.
GREEN ROADS 1674
The Frost family settled in 1674, afterpurchasing their land from William Simson.The land remained in their family until itwas sold in 1890. The Frost familycemetery remains on the grounds today, directly behind the 17th green, with some ofits gravestones dating as far back as 1776.
Open your door to a world of options in this high-concept community. Picture yourself relaxing at our saltwater resort-inspired swimming pool flanked by an expansive tanning deck. Meet up in our clubhouse around the billiard table or get connected at our wi-fi lounge. Work out in our fitness club with a high tech spin class or get centered by taking yoga. Relax in our green spaces and wind down around the cozy fire pit. You could even invite friends to cook out in our gourmet grill areas and watch the sunset while strolling along nearby walking trails around the wetlands.
The woman is colorfully dressed in green, red, yellow, white, and black. The dress is green with white highlights on its many folds of material. The dress fits tightly at the bodice, where two panels meet near the center and are joined by red laces. Another green panel is visible within the narrow V-shaped space between the two panels. The skirt appears to be made in two layers, with fabric from the top skirt gathered at the viewer's right and the hem falling just below the white apron. The green skirts are lifted at the knee to reveal an orange-red underskirt trimmed with a wide yellow-and-white floral design that runs along the bottom edge of the composition at lower left. In addition to the apron, the costume is brightened with a white lace collar and lace-trimmed sleeves. The top portion of the collar is solid, whereas the lower two-thirds of the collar is made up of a delicate foliate pattern. Three clusters of black and red ribbons hang loosely at the bottom edge of the proper left sleeve of the dress. The woman also wears a number of pieces of jewelry. At her neck are three strands of white pearls, which merge into two strands at left. Her proper left thumb is adorned with a simple gold band, and her wrist is decorated with four strands of round, reflective black beads.
On May 28, 1661, Elizabeth Clarke married John Freake (1631–1675) in Boston.6 John emigrated about 1658 from England and was a successful merchant and attorney who held public office as a juryman and a constable. The Freakes settled in Boston's North End, and between 1662 and 1674 Elizabeth gave birth to eight children.7 John Freake died in an accident in 1675, leaving Elizabeth a substantial fortune.
Born May 6, 1674, Mary Freake (1674–1752) was the eighth and youngest child of John and Elizabeth Freake and was apparently named for her paternal grandmother. Just before her twentieth birthday, on May 1, 1694, Mary wed Josiah Wolcott (1658–1728/9), who was a merchant and selectman in Salem, a representative to the General Court of Massachusetts, and a judge of the inferior court.23 They had nine children, all of whom Mary outlived.24 In 1709 Mary was given two tracts of land of two thousand acres each in central Massachusetts by Thomas Freake (1659/60–1721), her first cousin, of Hannington, Wiltshire, England.25 Thomas was a member of Parliament on two occasions and had no children of his own.26 The land in Massachusetts was given "in Consideration of the Natural Love and Affection which he has and doth bear unto Mary."27 The gift included "all Woods, Underwoods, pastures, feedings, ways, waters, Streams, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, profits, priviledges, advantages Emoluments, and appurces whatsoever." Her grandson Josiah Wolcott (1733–1796), eventually settled on that land and inherited the bulk of Mary's estate, including the Freake portraits.
AnalysisElizabeth Clarke Freake (Mrs. John Freake) and Baby Mary is one of about ten works created by the same artist in or near Boston between 1670 and 1674. The painting is done in a style that originated in Elizabethan England and remained in use there throughout the third quarter of the seventeenth century, although it had been replaced at court and among fashionable sitters by the baroque style, which Anthony Van Dyck (1599–1641) introduced to England in the 1630s.28 The Elizabethan style emphasized attention to the outlines of figures and the linear details of costume elements, rather than the baroque's use of light and shadow to create a believable illusion of volume and space. Because of the relationship of this portrait's early American style to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century British painting, it seems likely that the artist who painted it received some training either in England or in the studio of an emigrant artist who learned there. The artist used strong contour lines to silhouette the seated mother and her upright child and closely detailed their clothing and the furniture. Despite the lack of modeling, spatial relationships can be discerned in the placement of the child in front of the mother and the woman in front of the chair. The darkness of the background makes the distance between the figures at center and the table and drapery at left ambiguous. The result is that the flattened figures in shallow space assume an iconic presence.
Figure 1. Unidentified artist, seventeenth century, American, John Freake, about 1671 and 1674, oil on canvas, 42 1/2 x 36 3/4 in. (108 x 93.3 cm), Worcester Art Museum, Sarah C. Garver Fund, 1963.135.Elizabeth Clarke Freake (Mrs. John Freake) and Baby Mary is the companion of John Freake (fig. 1). Both paintings feature a three-quarter-length view of an adult figure, though Elizabeth's portrait is made more complex by the addition of her infant. Elizabeth Clarke Freake (Mrs. John Freake) and Baby Mary is clearly meant to hang on the right, as her body is turned to the left, where her husband, who faces slightly to the right, would be hung. The child Mary echoes her father's upright stance, his position facing right, and the bend of his proper right arm. The complement of standing and seated figures places the three heads at slightly different positions, which reflect the hierarchical organization of the Puritan family—husband, wife, and child. The grouping of mother and child embodies traditional gender roles, whereas the placement of Mary between her parents presents her as their issue. The ornate lace collars worn by John and Elizabeth decorate and harmonize the two portraits, while the bright colors—green, yellow, and red—of Elizabeth Clarke Freake (Mrs. John Freake) and Baby Mary offer a vibrant counterpoint to the sober palette of John Freake.
The dates assigned to the portrait, about 1671 and 1674, are based on the artist's inscriptions and the acceptance of the family tradition that the infant depicted is Mary Freake (1674–1752). An inscription at bottom right reads "Ano Dom, 167[1]/ Æ TATIS SU Æ 29."32 Though the last digit of the year cannot be read with certainty, the year 1671 is consistent with Elizabeth's stated age of twenty-nine (she was born May 22, 1642). A second inscription at center gives the child's age as "Æ TATIS SU Æ • 6 MOTH." Since Mary was born on May 6, 1674, it seems likely that she was added to her mother's portrait in November or early December 1674.33
The entire painting was examined in 1981 prior to the most comprehensive exhibition to date of seventeenth-century American art, including paintings, furniture, metals, ceramics, documents, and print culture. That exhibition took place at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. New X-rays were completed at the Worcester Art Museum by conservators Norman Muller and David Findley. Their findings were analyzed and published by Susan Strickler, then Worcester's curator, who reported the later addition of the child and significant changes to Elizabeth Freake's pose and costume (figs. 3 and 4).35 According to Strickler, Elizabeth originally sat with her hands in her lap, perhaps holding a fan, a device used in at least two other portraits by the same artist, Margaret Gibbs (1670, private collection) and Joanna Mason in The Mason Children (1670, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco). All of Elizabeth's jewelry was apparently added in the second group of sittings, and her clothing was significantly altered. A collar that extended beyond Elizabeth's shoulders was exchanged for the current one; a pentimento reveals the outline of the original collar on her proper right shoulder. The artist removed a kerchief that draped over the shoulders and hung down to the waist. Stiff, projecting ribbons (perhaps heavily starched) at the sleeves were painted out and replaced with loosely hanging ones. The white sleeves of the shift were originally much fuller, and the sleeves of the original dress were slashed to allow the white fabric to be pulled through on the upper arm. Pigment analysis at the Museum of Fine Arts revealed that the color of the dress had been altered from black to green.36
Figure 3. Line drawing of the composition of Elizabeth Clarke Freake (Mrs. John Freake) and Baby Mary as it is thought to have appeared about 1671. Drawing by Carol Greger.Figure 4. Line drawing of the final composition of Elizabeth Clarke Freake (Mrs. John Freake) and Baby Mary, about 1674. Drawing by Carol Greger.The original appearance of Elizabeth Freake's portrait would have been relatively consistent with twentieth-century expectations of Puritan austerity, whereas the final version is much more vibrant in color and rich with material possessions than might be expected. The painting is thus an important cultural index of the complex and changing values held by Puritan women at the top of the merchant class in the late seventeenth century. Whereas contemporary ministers warned against the distraction of vanity from the discipline of spiritual life, Elizabeth Freake probably understood her fine silks, laces, jewels, and furniture as signs of God's blessing on her family and her peers among the chosen people of Massachusetts.37 2ff7e9595c
Comments