President James Buchanan's Wheatland

James Buchanan served as the 15^th President of the United States. Before his Presidency he served two years in the Pennsylvania Legislature, 22 years in the U.S. House and Senate, four years as Secretary of State and six years in Russia and Great Britain as a U.S. Foreign Diplomat. In 1856 Wheatland served as his presidential campaign headquarters. From 1857 to 1861 Buchanan struggled to calm the nation divided over slavery, states’ rights and popular sovereignty. His term ended with the secession of seven States after the election of Republican, Abraham Lincoln. After serving as President, Buchanan retired to Wheatland. He refused to leave Wheatland when Lancastrians received word that the Confederate troops had come within a few miles of the community and his estate. A highly respected member of the Masonic Lodge, Buchanan's Masonic brothers maintained a vigil around the Wheatland Mansion as Southern troops were poised to cross the Susquehanna River and enter Lancaster County. Fortunately troops were diverted to the battle of Gettysburg, sparing Wheatland and Lancaster City from Confederate occupation.

LancasterHistory.org is your comprehensive history center for Lancaster County history. The ten-acre Campus of History features the historic grounds and gardens of President James Buchanan's Wheatland, the Louise Arnold Tanger Arboretum, and the award-winning, and environmentally-sustainable headquarters of LancasterHistory.org. Visitors can take tours of the mansion. Tour guides share Buchanan’s family stories that reveal a stern, yet lovable bachelor uncle who raised orphaned nieces and nephews, cared for Lancaster’s widows and orphans and was a successful attorney.

President James Buchanan’s Wheatland is a National Historic Landmark (designated in 7/4/1961) and on the National Register of Historic Places (designated in 10/15/1966).