The Hardships and Sacrifice, Massey's Cove, Salem, 1626

Details

Descriptive Terms

oil paintings (visual works)
oil paint (paint)
wood (plant material)
Painting

Label

The painting is attempting to show what life may have been like in the Massey’s Cove area in Salem during the Winter of 1626; settlers and their log cabins stand in the middle ground while Native peoples and their tipis exist in the background. Nearly all human figures in the image are men hunting with arrows or guns, but there are women near the cabins on the right side of the image. The piece is original to the Phillips House in Salem, where it is still located. This indicates that the piece was owned by Anna Phillips who purchased the estate around the same time John Orne Johnson Frost was creating it.

Massey's Cove was the location of the first European colonial settlement in Salem; the name and corresponding year in the painting are correct. About eight years prior many Indigenous people of the area died as a result of the smallpox epidemic and in a war with the Tarratine people. Smallpox was likely contracted during earlier contact with European fishermen and tradesmen, so Indigenous strength was significantly reduced just prior to English settlement. Because of this, the English settlers would have met little resistance from local Natives. That first group of settlers arrived after a group of fishermen from Cape Ann arrived in Salem. Those fishermen were led by Roger Conant, governor of the Dorchester Company, the predecessor to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Salem is the second oldest European settlement in New England, and it is the second incorporated city in Massachusetts; Salem was established only four years before Boston’s founding.

The housing establishments are worth consideration. White settlers in Salem only built log cabins during their first winter; when the weather got warmer, they began constructing buildings now known as "colonial style" homes. Tipis, on the other hand, do not belong on this landscape at all. The tribe native to Salem in the early 1600s was the Naumkeag people. The Naumkeag did not live in tipis, a housing structure common among Plains Native Americans. Rather, the Naumkeag were a partially nomadic people; they travelled between different permanent wigwam settlements throughout Massachusetts for each season of the year to ensure most beneficial conditions. Their homes were permanent and durable against New England weather; tipis were not suitable for the climate of Massachusetts. The permanency of wigwams that would only be occupied for a few months of the year often led to certain villages appearing abandoned to Europeans.

Inscription

"The Hardships + Sacrifice Masseys Cove Salem 1626 The First Winter. A mighty nation was born God leading these noble men and women. JOJ Frost Marblehead." (handwritten)
"From: Childs Gallery 169 Newbury St. / Boston 16 / Fine Paintings and Prints / Commonwealth 6-1108 To: Fogg Museum Harvard University Cambridge 38, Mass."
"Loaned by Stephen Phillips for the 25th Reunion 'Exhibition of Treasures' of his class of 1929." (handwritten)
"Fogg Art Museum Loan T.h. 11325 Phillips '29."

Associated Building

Original to Phillips House (Salem, Mass.),

Additional Identification Number

P185
FA072

Maker

Frost, John Orne Johnson, 1852-1928 (Artist)

Dimensions

26 9/16 x 51 13/16 x 1 5/16 (HxWxD) (inches)

Credit Line

Gift of the Stephen Phillips Memorial Charitable Trust for Historic Preservation

Accession Number

2006.44.608

Places

Massachusetts (United States)
Marblehead (Essex county, Massachusetts)