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A Visit to Wheatland
This brick Federal-style, 17-room mansion situated on 22 acres, has seen very few changes since it was built in 1828 by William Jenkins, a local lawyer. He sold the house in 1841 to Willliam Meredith who sold it in 1848 to James Buchanan. Buchanan made a few improvements: furnace and central heating, replaced the open kitchen hearth with a cast-iron stove, put in a tin bathtub. His niece added the inside toilet. Most of the furnishings, including wallpaper and structure, are original to the house and to the Buchanan family. Furniture pieces from generations of the Buchanan family are still returning to Wheatland.
Our tour was exceptional in that our docent was so knowledgeable about James Buchanan, it seemed he knew him personally. He shared many family stories of the Buchanans.
James Buchanan, the 15th U.S. President, is the only President to never marry. His detractors had unkind, subtle opinions of that fact. The first woman ever to be referred to as “The First Lady” was Buchanan’s niece, who put off her own marriage to serve as the hostess for the White House. Her portrait hangs in the dining room; she was stunning. Even though Buchanan had no children, he’s from a large family who produced more large families, and several nephews are named James Buchanan. Must be about 30 of them!
Some things we learned about this President: he was elected as a Unionist, a moderate Democrat to calm the North-South dispute over slavery. He was a strong supporter of State’s rights. Although he believed slavery was morally wrong, he believed the Federal Government must not interfere with States’ decisions. He began his term as President with the Dred Scot Decision, and ended it with Southern Secession. He believed Secession was unconstitutional, but the Federal Government had no authority to stop it. War was imminent when he left the office to Lincoln.
Though slavery dominated his term, he also dealt with Utah territory and the Mormon War, expanded American influence in Central and South America, tried to purchase Cuba from Spain, and established relations with Japan.
Buchanan was a native son to this area, born in Mercersburg in 1791, educated at Dickinson College, studied and passed the Bar in Lancaster, a successful lawyer, served in the War of 1812, served two years in the Pennsylvania Legislature, and was elected President in 1857-1861. He retired to Wheatland, where he lived the rest of his life. He died in 1868. He’s buried in nearby Woodward Hill Cemetery, where 20,000 people attended his funeral