James Buchanan

I visited Wheatland in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the Spring of 1997. I helped my brother, Mark, move to Hershey, PA from the Finger Lakes area of New York. We had been driving for about seven hours to his new apartment, then we had to unload my pickup truck. It was late in the day on a Saturday, and by the time we got to Wheatland, it was closed. After about 10 minutes at the house, we went over to Woodward Hill Cemetery to find Jimmy's grave. We got lost on the way over to the cemetery, but finally made it. It was getting dark, and we had to find the grave site. I saw an American Flag flying high in the distance, and took an educated guess that was the gravesite. I had my brother take a picture of me at the grave and I took one of the gravesite like I always do, but it was too dark and the pictures didn't come out. My brother and I are no Ansel Adams, but come on! I took a picture of a stone across the way from Buchanan's and that came out. I think it didn't come out because Buchanan's grave is surrounded by bushes and trees and without a flash on my one-time use Kodak, it wasn't bright enough. Now, I have to go back. My brother's term in Pennsylvania didn't last long. After about a year, he was transferred by his company to Utah, but has since been transferred to the midwest. I'll have to wait till they send him back to Hershey.

James Buchanan's home, "Wheatland"

As you can see, the area around the gravesite is pretty dark. I just wish I had a flash. I found the negatives of the pictures to Buchanan's gravesite and had them developed. As you can see they are dark, but they'll have to do for now. I tried to Photoshop them and lighten them up, but I'm not really that good with it. I'll just have to go back and take some better ones.

Wheatland Website

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