Some options:
1. Buy your own domain name.
2. Try www.webseed.com - it's not a free hosting service but an information portal. You apply and if approved, they register your domain name. Everything is there for you to use their templates to set up your site. The catch is that you have to follow their format. But you can control most of that and you can also control the advertising.
I have two sites there:
Brother vs. Brother: The American Civil War
The Outer Banks of North Carolina Still in development.
3. Try www.suite101.com - similar in nature to Webseed, but there is much more of a Suite101.com presence than you would have at Webseed. I have one Suite101.com site (their limit)
Fatherhood
See how I can shamelessly promote my own stuff while offering you advice? Best of luck.
Pretty smoooth. Thanks!
Is webseed free, then, if they approve you?
Dan