James Buchanan, Gentleman Farmer
Like many of us today, James Buchanan took on several roles throughout the course of his life. These identifiers are often associated with various jobs and positions Buchanan upheld, including that of a caregiver, lawyer, and politician. But perhaps one of his strongest personal identifiers was that of a gentleman farmer, which he took on when he first moved to Wheatland.
Buchanan purchased Wheatland in 1848 while he was still serving as Secretary of State under President Polk. While he was stationed in Washington, D.C. at that time to uphold this position, he already had been a long-time resident of Lancaster since 1809 when he endeavored to get his start as a lawyer. Prior to 1848, his residence and law office could be found on East King Street.
When he purchased Wheatland, the property consisted of the mansion, several outbuildings (including a carriage house, icehouse/smokehouse, privy, and gardener’s house), and 22.5 acres of land. This purchase transitioned him from a city resident to a gentleman farmer.
What is a Gentleman Farmer?
The term gentleman farmer can best be understood as a hobbyist farmer or gardener. This is someone who does not rely on the cultivation of land as a primary source of income or sustenance but rather engages in growing supplementary fruits and vegetables as a hobby. It is similar to folks today who may grow a backyard garden or potted garden on their porch.
How did Buchanan fit into this Role?
Buchanan moved into Wheatland on May 18, 1849 and quickly embraced the potential of the property. In a letter to his friend, George G. Leiper, Buchanan discussed his enthusiasm surrounding the potential of the kitchen garden:
“I have a large and excellent garden, that is, it would be excellent if properly cultivated, and I wish to procure a good gardener. Besides, adjoining the garden, there is a neat commodious gardener’s house. I would either hire a good experienced gardener for my own use or let him have the garden and more ground if he wants to raise vegetables and take them to the Lancaster market reserving what my family would use.”[i]
Over the course of Buchanan’s 20-year residency, he employed several gardeners who lived and worked on the property, including Edward Bolger, John Smithgall, Thomas Costello, and Charles Smith.
Each gardener became the head caretaker of the cultivated areas of Wheatland. These areas consisted of:
- A kitchen garden that grew vegetables and herbs (including prize-winning pumpkins, beets, and radishes grown by John Smithgall[ii] and likely some potatoes from the seeds Miss Hetty, the housekeeper, purchased)
- A strawberry patch[iii]
- A fruit orchard of gourd pears[iv]
- A grapery that produced up to 6-pound clusters of Malaga grapes[v]
Embracing the Natural Landscape
In addition to the cultivated sections of Wheatland, there were also large sections of his property that remained untouched and uncultivated. The first of these uncultivated areas was an oak and hickory grove in the back of the property. According to correspondents who visited Wheatland throughout the years, Buchanan seldom walked in the grove but would often view it[vi] from the porch where he often sat for an hour after tea.[vii]
Another uncultivated area included a meadow in the front of the property along Marietta Ave, which we maintain today as a low-mow field of fescue grass.
Perhaps his favorite spot in the entire property, however, was the freshwater springs shaded by a willow tree at the front of the property. “In the front of the house,” a correspondent from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper recalled, “is a beautiful spring which gurgles out from the earth, clear as crystal, glistening like diamonds, under the shade of a magnificent willow tree. This spot is quite a favorite with Buchanan, and to it, when at leisure, he often leads his causal visitors.”[viii]
Painting a Picture of Wheatland
We use a variety of different primary sources (defined as materials created during the time period being studied) that provide us with a greater sense of scope of the Wheatland property. These include letters, household accounts, illustrations and lithographs, and observations recorded in newspapers. Individually, these sources provide snippet views, but together, they paint a more well-rounded picture.
The primary visual aids in LancasterHistory’s collection that help us understand the property include the lithograph of Wheatland, drawn by J.F. Reigart and published by Edwin Clark, and the Window Screen of Wheatland painted on glass (referred to at the time as “stained glass”) by Philip Kraus. In using the Reigart lithograph with various newspaper correspondences, we can further pinpoint specific areas.
Key
Yellow Arrows: “Viewed from the gate, Wheatland is picturesque and elegant. A circular path, hidden by forest trees and shrubbery, leads up to the mansion.”[ix]
Red Arrow: “As we walk up the main avenue our nose is regaled with the perfume of roses, and a fine field of wheat nods in the summer air on our left hand. On our right is a spacious park, which has never felt the gardener’s hand.”[x] Note: The main avenue, also referred to by Buchanan as the principal path, is given its name because of its direct access to the carriage house. To the left of the path is Buchanan’s field, which we leave as a low mow meadow, and to the right is a park where his horses and cattle grazed.
Purple Arrow: “In the front of the house is a beautiful spring which gurgles out from the earth, clear as crystal, glistening like diamonds, under the shade of a magnificent willow tree. This spot is quite a favorite with Buchanan, and to it, when at leisure, he often leads his causal visitors.”[xi]
Pink Arrow: “Behind all, the natural grove of hickory and oak trees where he often looked but seldom walked.”[xii]Brown Arrow: Possible visual evidence of trellis for graperies “The graperies are extensive, while the varieties are of the finest and most luscious known to the horticulturist. The delicious quality of grapes was tasted and judged, not by sight alone, but by taste, as well. We saw clusters of the Malaga grapes which weighed upwards of six pounds.”[xiii]
The Wheatland Property in Present Day
Today, LancasterHistory retains about half of Buchanan’s original 22.5 acre property. In addition to a guided tour of the house, visitors can walk the grounds to observe some of the features that Buchanan once enjoyed. During your walk, you may encounter the working kitchen garden, the tree-lined carriage path (now walking paths for visitors), the meadow, and the frog pond. The surrounding grounds exist now for us to be stewards of, but they also might teach you a bit more about the history that happened here.
[i] Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Buchanan Papers, (Philadelphia, PA), James Buchanan to George G. Leiper, 13 November 1849.
[ii] The Lancaster Examiner, (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 28 October 1857, https://www.newspapers.com/image/569403339/.
[iii] Cincinnati Commercial, (Cincinnati, Ohio), 6 June 1884.
[iv]Edward Wenrich Leicy recalled his boyhood years in Lancaster wherein he and a friend, Al Siegfried, climbed over the fence at Wheatland in 1858 to pick gourd pears out of Buchanan’s orchard. They believed the house to be empty because Buchanan was serving as President of the United States, but the housekeeper chased them off the property.
“E.W. Leicy, Randolph County’s Lone Civil War Vet, Will be 92 on Sunday,” The Hartington Herald, (Hartington, Nebraska), 21 October 1937.
[v] “A Visitor’s Impressions,” The Daily New Era (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 8 September 1888.
[vi] Cincinnati Commercial, (Cincinnati, Ohio), 6 June 1884.
[vii] The New York Daily Times, (New York, New York), 12 October 1868.
[viii] Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, (New York, New York), 6 December 1856.
[ix] Ibid.
[x] The New York Herald, (New York, New York), 16 June 1856
[xi] Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, (New York, New York), 6 December 1856.
[xii] Cincinnati Commercial, (Cincinnati, Ohio), 6 June 1884.
[xiii] “A Visitor’s Impressions,” The Daily New Era (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 8 September 1888.