by A rainy April day had us once again chasing sites related to one of the worst US Presidents, our 15th President, James Buchanan. A refresher: Buchanan served immediately before Lincoln and his choice to take a hands-off approach to the threats of southern rebellion, thus leading to the Civil War, is the primary legacy of his Presidency. (He did some other stuff, too, but simply hoping the whole rift with the southern states would just blow over is kinda hard to live down.)
We had previously visited Wheatland, Buchanan’s home in Lancaster, Penn., where he died in 1868. Now we visited the tiny cabin in which he was born in 1791. The cabin is no longer in its original location, though, having been moved decades ago and now sits amongst academic buildings at Mercersburg Academy. Visiting entails nothing more than peering through windows into a sparsely-furnished interior. The plaque outside said “his personal integrity and honorable career are worthy of emulation by all true Americans”; apparently the creator of the plaque never googled James Buchanan.
Next on our Buchanan quest was the Buchanan family home in downtown Mercersburg, Penn. Here is where the family moved from their cabin; it’s now the Buchanan Hotel and Pub & Restaurant. James grew up there, from 1796 (James was five) until 1807, when he went off to Dickinson College. Although it was supposed to be open for lunch, it wasn’t, so we were only able to look upon the outside with wonder.
Up the street was a not-very-flattering statue of James B. (if it was life-sized, it’s clear that he wasn’t of large stature), near a hotel at which he made a speech. Across the street was his niece’s home (since Buchanan is the only President to have never married — draw your own conclusions — his niece Harriet Lane served the duties of First Lady during his Presidency). Yes, we saw all of these sights and they were just as exciting as they sound.
Finally, we drove to Buchanan’s Birthplace State Park. That’s right, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania created a state park for Buchanan’s birthplace (in fact, it was the first state park in Pennsylvania), but the cabin isn’t in it. Instead there is an enormous stone pyramid erected after a campaign led by his niece. An obvious later addition was a five-foot high wrought iron fence to keep people from climbing the monument. If it wasn’t fenced off, I might have climbed it myself, as it was very tempting.
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