Painting a Brightwood baffler

Since they first took over the Brightwood General Store more than a decade ago, Debby and David Peake have uncovered many historic items left by generations of families who used to run the Ridgeview Road store.

But one item in particular – a pastel-colored family portrait – caught their eye. The painting – on a three and half foot tall by two and half foot wide canvas stretched across a wood frame – features three young girls. The Peakes assume that the children – which look to range in age from their teens to about 4 or 5 years old – are sisters.

The lower right corner of the painting includes a signature that appears to read “J.E. Burrett ’61.”

When the Peake family first took over the store in late 1996, they found the piece of artwork in the attic of the apartment that sits above the store.
“We meant to bring it down but it just got shoved off into a corner and covered with stuff,” Debby Peake told The Eagle.

Two months ago, the store’s owner and her son were searching through the attic when they came across the painting once again. This time, the family brought it downstairs and set it by the entrance of the store along with a sign that questions all those who pass by, “DO YOU KNOW US??”

The Peakes believe the 47-year-old painting belongs to some member from either the Utz, Crigler or Ford families, who all previously
operated the store and lived in the apartment upstairs.

Many of the store’s patrons have offered leads to the possible identities of the three girls – the most common suggestion has been that the oldest child in the painting resembles Madison County Circuit Court Clerk Caroline Watts.

Watts, who has two younger sisters, is also a descendant of the Ford family, which owned the store decades ago, according to Peake. But after recently visiting the store to take a look for herself, the circuit court clerk dismissed the idea that the children in the painting are supposed to be her and her sisters.
“All of the pieces of the puzzle seemed to fit together, but it wasn’t her,” Debby Peake said disappointingly.

If no one comes forward to claim the painting, Peake plans to give it to an artist friend who would like to paint over the canvas.
“But I’m not going to give it to her until I cover all of my bases,” she said.

Ideally, the Brightwood storeowner says she would be happy to return the painting to its rightful owner to “solve” the mystery and provide a local family with a small piece of its history.

“One of those girls could be somebody’s mother,” Peake said, adding that if a stranger came across an old painting of one of her relatives she would love to have it.

“In my heart I know someone knows whose it is,” she said.

Anyone who has information about the painting can contact the Brightwood General Store by calling (540) 543-2100 or by visiting the store at 211 Ridgeview Road in Brighwood during its normal hours from 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday.