By 1902, however, the colony announced that new settlers would have to purchase land outright, as the idealistic land-financing plan based on share dividends had not worked.

[5] Daniels platted five-acre tracts with wide streets to form the original townsite.

[5] Freeland considered itself a cooperative profit-sharing association and rejected the rigid communal structure of other colonies on the island.

"[5] During its early years, Freeland had no local school, sending its children three miles across the island to Useless Bay.

The lack of roads contributed to the isolation of the colony, although Daniels' son-in-law, John H. Prather, purchased several boats to provide freight and passenger service between Freeland and Everett, the nearest town on the mainland.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the Freeland CDP has a total area of 3.9 square miles (10.1 km2), all of it land.

The beach offers of shellfish harvesting and at times total solitude along the shores of Useless Bay and Admiralty Inlet to the north of the Puget Sound.

Freeland Park on Holmes Harbor on the north side of town has beach access, boat ramp, boat moorage, picnic tables, children's playground, and an annual Third of July fireworks celebration.