Dedication of the monument to James Buchanan, fifteenth president of the United States, donated to the city of Lancaster by Dulon F. Buchmiller on the sixtieth anniversary of Mr. Buchanan's death, Friday, June the first, 1928, erected in Buchanan Park, Lancaster, Penna
A study was made of the wood in the log cabin which is said to be the birthplace of President James Buchanan. Since there is no proof that he was born in that particular cabin, the researchers wished to know if this cabin could have been his birthplace. They concluded that the " largest portion of the cabin beam samples were cut at or before 1785, six years before the birth of President Buchanan." This showed that the cabin existed at the time of his birth.
"The saga begins and ends with two commonplace scenes: a teenaged immigrant alighting a ship in colonial Philadelphia with but two letters of introduction and three guineas to his name, and a gravesite ringed by a half-dozen black-clothed mourners. But during the century and a half that encapsulates these vignettes, a Pennsylvania dynasty rose and fell- and rose and fell again. From Robert Coleman of Castle Finn, Ireland, to Robert Habersham Coleman of Cornwall, Lebanon County, four generations of one family amassed several fortunes, monopolized Pennsylvania's ironmaking industry, created entire self-sufficient communities, befriended statesmen, entertained royalty and lived - and died - in an epic drama that still intrigues and fascinates." [from the text]
