This stunning landscape depicts Bear Creek, a tributary to the Patapsco River that begins in Garrett County, Maryland. It was painted for John W. McCoy, who presented it to the Peabody Institute in 1908. The painting was added to the Collection of the Maryland Commission on Artistic Property when the state purchased the Peabody Art Collection in 1996.

Hugh Bolton Jones was born and educated in Baltimore and began his artistic training at the Maryland Institute. Although he worked in New York in the 1860s and 1870s, Jones maintained close ties to his home state, keeping a residence in Baltimore and exhibiting his paintings. The beautiful Maryland countryside was inspiration for many of his early works.