Old Time Farm in M-F…

Milton Freewater, Oregon has it’s share of pioneer history, and a portion of it is represented by the Frazier Farmstead Museum which I visited in the middle of August.

One of the first settlers in the area had lived for 4 years on the property the Frazier family bought in 1868. There were already, or perhaps ‘still’ would be more accurate, a few settlers in the valley even after the nearby Whitman Massacre that occurred in 1847. The previous owners of some of the land in this valley were well liked by the local natives as were several other families over on the Walla Walla river where they’d built cabins across from local Indian encampments so it’s not like the valley was empty. As long as the Indians felt they were treated fairly, and didn’t suspect individual settlers had caused any disease outbreak, they were tolerated in the area. Plus the nearby fort was finished building in 1868 so that gave some new settlers confidence to settle here instead of heading further west. Or to remain here if they’d already claimed land. This was during the ‘Manifest Destiny’ and the ‘Homestead Act’ period so whites believed that owning the land that Indians had occupied for thousands of years was their right. But even with that mindset, there were others that were tolerated or appreciated by the locals and allowed to settle without harassment.  There were even 6 brave Indians who turned themselves into the army, allowed themselves to be tried and executed by the US government for the massacre though some had nothing to do with it, in order to maintain the fragile peace.

With that background in mind, the Frazier family had traveled up from Texas on the Oregon trail looking to settle and chose this area. The Frazier’s first home was little more than a cabin and over the years turned into a ramshackle cabin. But for 24 years the family of 10 lived there until they eventually built themselves a grand estate. All those children the Frazier’s had really helped as they helped built the ‘big house’ in 1892.

“After purchasing land from Thomas Eldridge, one of the first settlers there, and laying claim to 320 acres, the Frazier’s built a log cabin on the property. They lived in the log cabin for 24 years before building the Southern-style Colonial home in 1882 that is now the Frazier Farmstead Museum.”

Nothing of the original farmstead cabin remains, but the remaining house is quite old and interesting. I toured the house on an overcast day so the pictures turned out very well as the camera didn’t have to adjust for excess sunshine. Anyway, enjoy the tour of the house and the grounds…

Here’s a google map of where the Farmstead is situated. Note as you zoom out that Walla Walla is around 10 miles north. Frazier Farmstead map…

The building itself looks to be more from the 1930’s than the 186o’s, doesn’t it?

So that’s the house, and to the right on the property as I exited the car parked in the street, is this old carriage house. Fully refurbished, it’s now the local venue for fancy pants weddings.

Anyway, here’s a look at the front stoop. Not as complete as many but they had made their money farming so likely practical folks not given to ostentatiousness.

And here is a look at what the house plans entailed all those years ago. This ‘painting’? I don’t know what it’s called, it’s based on the original architectural drawings though. Funny that they didn’t put a cover over that nice 2nd story widow’s walk. And today the house doesn’t really look like this. Maybe I don’t know what this represents after all. It was extensively remodeled several times over the century of it’s existence though. It was even moved years ago 100 feet back (east) to it’s present position to make way for the frontage road that runs N-S.

Most of the items on display in this house were original to this family. They continuously occupied this land as a working farm for 115 years before willing the property to the museum.

That’s the ground floor. You can see that it was not the most elegant place but at the time it was built, it was a grand estate by local standards. And now we head upstairs…

Very interesting. Some very nice antiques here. And then the curator and I stepped outside where she gave me a personal tour of the grounds and buildings. And the garden. It’s the showcase area where many weddings start out these days.

Over there is the old (refurbished) barn that we’ll visit here soon enough.

But I mentioned I didn’t notice any kitchen in the big house so we looped back and entered from the back porch.

And here we are in the kitchen.
Ended up back at the front door. Kind of an odd looking chair in the portico so I snapped a shot.

And then we wandered out to the storage shed. She had to remove the big lock, made me wonder how many visitors they get in middle of August. I know they have school tours here much of the school year.

Many of these antiques have been donated by locals.
Some ol’ timey stoves.
And then we headed over to the barn. This was used for a long time as a horse barn. There was a cow section too. I thought it was designed and built with a lot of care based on a love of horses.

Then we climbed a rickety ol’ spiral staircase to get to the upper floor of the barn. Good place for barn dances. I like checking out the construction techniques of these old buildings.

Very nice barn.

And here is the historic McCoy cabin just a few yards from the garden. It wasn’t on this plot originally, moved here in 1989. It is the oldest standing structure in Umatilla County. It was donated to the museum years ago as it was falling apart where it was but since it had such strong historical significance they saved it and rebuilt almost to original. Took years for them to plan and execute the move as well. They had to dismantle it, mostly the fireplace was the problem, while trying to not destroy the thing in the process.

It’s original cabin had been on the banks of the Walla Walla river across from an Indian settlement and alongside a popular trail to Walla Walla. They were well liked, and traded fairly with them.

The cabin is somewhat unique because it had an upstairs. Where the children slept.

And after that nice guided tour that took over an hour, it was time to say goodbye to my host, Linda. If you go, say hi, and grab some candy from the bowl. The building behind her is the carriage house, like I mentioned it’s used for weddings now so I couldn’t go inside. I did peek in the window and it’s filled with antiques but I didn’t see any carriages or old cars.

So that’s it. A tour of the Frazier Farmstead and the McCoy Cabin. Thanks for visiting, hope to see you again next time…

Buh bye.