President James Buchanan's Wheatland — Attraction in Lancaster Township

We are local and I haven’t been to Wheatland since I was a child, and my pre-teen son has never visited. We both really enjoyed our visit (which was courtesy of the Lancaster Public Library Museum Pass program).

The video at the beginning of the tour (in the history center) focused more on James Buchanan’s rise to political power, as well as his struggles as president. As other reviews mentioned, they do spend some time speculating about his sexuality- there is a content warning sign outside the theater, which we were directed to read beforehand, in case people are extremely worried about this content. I found it no big deal, and it opened up some interesting discussions with my son afterwards, but alas, if you’re concerned about content perhaps read the content warning and inform yourself in case you’d like to skip the film portion.

The house tour afterwards focused much more on the house (obviously) and his family who lived there with him.

The house was beautiful and we learned so much from our awesome tour guide (who was in period dress). I knew that Buchanan was a bachelor and never married, but somehow had never learned (or I forgot) that his niece and nephew lived with him, and I didn’t realize what a cool historical figure his niece Harriet Lane was.

We very much enjoyed the tour, and the tourists in our group seemed to as well. My only suggestion would be perhaps to include more of the outside on the tour. I realized we never saw the side of the house that faces the road (though I’ve seen it many times driving by), and though I was glad the outbuildings were pointed out from afar, I’d have loved to see and hear more. I’m glad we peeked into the privy afterwards as suggested by our guide. I’m assuming the tour just doesn’t have time to focus much on the grounds and outdoors, given how interesting the inside is. Just leave extra time afterwards to explore outside if you’re coming for a tour.

Definitely visit if you’re local and never have! Or if you’re a tourist with time...

My husband and I took the kids here to learn more about the area we live in-we love history! The house and grounds are beautiful, the tour is long and informative and the tour guide was great. I felt bad because my young son, who is usually well behaved, refused to be held and was very disruptive, so I had to leave the tour early with him. Regardless, my other kids had a great experience and loved learning about the president and his home. We did not get tickets ahead of time, so we had to wait an hour for the next tour, but it was easily spent in the museum area and exploring the grounds. I am giving this less than five stars simply because of the video that you watch in order to start the tour. History should be based on facts. I understand that to fill in some blanks a little speculation may occur-but this video was very much based on speculation and theories, and different professor’s interpretations of Buchanan’s personal life and it was completely unnecessary. I would even say that the subject matter of the video was not only in bad taste, but it was not really kid friendly. I did not understand the point of the speculation that went on for 10 minutes about this poor man’s love life, only to conclude that one, there is no evidence to support it, and two, that it really doesn't matter. Both of which are the entire opposite of what presenting historical information should be. There were many little hints throughout the displays and the video that were “leaning” and definitely presenting the material in a biased way. I would expect that a historical venue like this would stick to presenting the facts and then give us the courtesy of forming our...

First off, if the people that own the place is reading this - shorten the film. The first step is to sit for a long 30 min presentation for a so-so, totally forgettable president, that may have triggered a war. There was way too much info about a guy I never really heard of. We used this place as a resting point between other places.

The house doesn't allow flash, but do allow photos. But its very dark there, and a bit tight. And they wanted me to hide my bag, but they let me on the tour anyway as long as my bag was in front of me. They let you into the rooms themselves, no ropes, but there is a tour.

Its a pretty nice tour, lighting could be better though. They mentioned a frog pond, but the best we could find is a small fish pond with koi crammed into a small space near I think the sign and driveway. The arboretum, well to put it like this - any space with trees can technically be called that. But when there are like 5...