MILTON-FREEWATER — The Frazier Farmstead Museum had to take some creative measures to occupy it’s time during the COVID-19 shutdowns.

Linda Whiting, the director of the Milton-Freewater museum, said Frazier Farmstead spent some of the time it was closed to the public organizing a book club where a dozen children read historical fiction and did crafts.

But with coronavirus cases in Umatilla County receding, the Frazier Farmstead’s spring open house on April 3 also acted as a reopening party for the 1403 Chestnut St. museum.

Regardless of current events, Whiting said the appeal of the Frazier Farmstead is the same.

“It’s an important piece of history for Eastern Oregon and the Walla Walla Valley,” she said.

A six-acre property listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the farmstead’s namesake William Samuel Frazier, was a founder of the city of Milton before it merged with neighboring Freewater and was one of Umatilla County’s first commissioners.

The Fraziers occupied the land for almost a century before the family deeded the property to the Milton-Freewater Area Foundation in the 1980s.

Now operating as a full-time museum, Whiting said the Frazier Farmstead gives visitors a taste of Milton-Freewater’s pioneering past.

“It’s like a walk back in history,” she said.

Although the museum was set up as a way to preserve history, that doesn’t mean the entire site is preserved in amber.

When the museum held its open house on April 3, complete with food, a scavenger hunt and arts and crafts, Frazier Farmstead held a ribbon cutting for its new bathroom facilities, which were built with the help of Umatilla County, local foundations and community donations.

The Frazier Farmstead Museum is open Thursday-Saturday from 11 a.m to 4 p.m., April through December.

Museums in Umatilla and Morrow Counties (Note: Due to the pandemic, some hours and days of operation may have changed)

Betty Feves Memorial Gallery

Blue Mountain Community College, 2411 N.W. Carden Ave., Pendleton

Temporarily closed, expected to reopen in September

Children’s Museum of Eastern Oregon

400 S. Main St., Pendleton

Store open Saturdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., expected to reopen rest of the museum by summer

Heritage Station Museum

108 SW Frazer Ave, Pendleton

Thursday-Friday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Maxwell Siding Railroad Museum

Hodge Park, 100 W. Highland Ave., Hermiston

Saturdays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Morrow County Agricultural Museum

Off of Highway 74 at West Riverside Ave. & N.W. Hinton St., Heppner

Friday, 1-5 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., May-September

Morrow County Heritage Museum

444 N. Main St., Heppner

Tuesday-Friday, 1-5 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., May-September

Pendleton Air Museum

21 S.W. Emigrant Ave.

Monday, Friday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Pendleton Center for the Arts

214 N. Main St.

Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturdays, noon-4 p.m. and open by special appointment

Pendleton Round-Up & Happy Canyon Hall of Fame

1114 S.E. Court Ave.

Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Pendleton Underground Tours

31 S.W. Emigrant Ave.

Monday, Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., tours must be reserved in advance

SAGE Center

101 Olson Road N.E., Boardman

Museum will reopen May 3

Tamástslikt Cultural Institute

Off I-84, Exit 216 near Wildhorse Resort & Casino, Pendleton

Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., exhibits to reopen May 7

Umatilla Museum

911 Sixth St., Umatilla

Tuesday-Saturday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m., museum will reopen May 7