James Buchanan’s Birthplace Cabin, Pennsylvania

James Buchanan, the 15^th president of the USA, was born in a cabin, which once stood where a memorial pyramid built in its place, now stands. The cabin is well traveled, as buildings go, but as is not uncommon for presidential birthplace cabins. The cabin was purchased by a local businessman in 1850, before Buchanan became president. He removed it from the site at Stony Batter, and reconstructed it in town to use as a workshop. It eventually was expanded, and turned into a home that was rented out. In 1925, the structure, by then in some disrepair, was purchased by another local businessman, who moved it 20 miles to a lot he owned in Chambersburg. A bronze plaque explained its origins, and over the next 30 years it was variously used as a gift shop, Girl Scouts headquarters, antique shop, museum, and Democratic Party headquarters, before it was moved again, leaving an empty lot. In 1953, the cabin was purchased for $300 by Mercersburg Academy, a prep school in town, and moved to campus, where it remains, for now.