History museums
in Lancaster city.



There are four history museums of note in Lancaster city: Wheatland, the Lancaster County Historical Society, the Heritage Center Museum, and the North Museum of Natural History and Science. Of those the best known is Wheatland, President James Buchanan's home. It is co-located, both geographically and for web site purposes, with the second of our four recommendations, the Lancaster County Historical Society.


 Let's talk first about Wheatland and Buchanan. I volunteered for a while there as a docent (i.e. tour guide), and as you'll see this is perhaps my favorite museum in Lancaster city. To start, I think Buchanan gets a bad rap as perhaps one of our worst presidents. True, he didn't do a great job, but he came into office as possibly the most qualified man ever elected to the office: a very successful attorney in Lancaster, member of the House of Representatives for five terms, senator for ten years, Minister (i.e. ambassador) to Russia, Minister to the United Kingdom, Secretary of State, and would-be nominee to the Supreme Court had he not turned it down. It was his bad luck to take office in 1857, just as events were leading to the Civil War. He did his best to keep the peace, but his two conflicting views - (1)that secession by a state was illegal and (2) that going to war to stop it secession - resulted in doing very little to prevent the war. He was a victim of the times and his deeply held views.

His home, Wheatland, is a 17-room, 2 1/2 story Federalist style mansion decorated in period pieces, many of which belonged to him. He lived there as bachelor (his fiancee died tragically)from 1848 until his death in 1868. During much of that time his niece and ward, Harriet Lane, also lived there. Miss Lane acted as his hostess, both in Lancaster and in Washington during his presidency; the vivacious young woman became known as the first woman to be called First Lady. Tours begin in the carriage house which also serves as a museum. Look for the unusual bathtub in his bedroom. The estate is now a National Historic Landmark.

The Lancaster County Historical Society is located on the adjoining property. It isn't a large museum, but they do have permanent and temporary collections on exhibit. However, it's an excellent place for both genealogical and historical research, and experts are on hand to provide assistance.


The third location in Lancaster city is the Heritage Center Museum.

Located in the very center of the city it houses annual exhibits and a permanent collection. The latter includes a broad range of Amish, Mennonite, Quaker, and Moravian items: furniture, decorative chests, silver, pewter, textiles, and more.








The last museum in Lancaster city is also the largest, the North Museum of Natural History & Science. It probably shouldn't be included here because only part of it's exhibits are historical in the sense used elsewhere in this section - it's exhibit on local indians. To quote from it's web site, "The North Museum explores the abundance of anthropological history along the Susquehanna River in the exhibit Natives of the Susquehanna. Eight exhibit cases, hands-on interactives and a mural of the Susquehanna River immerse you in Lancaster County's Native American history from the Paleo Indians of 10,000 years BC to the mighty Susquehannocks that inhabited Lancaster County until 1763." Enough said, I'll cover the rest on the museum's offerings in another section on museums in general.





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