History
In 1796, James Buchanan Sr. purchased a large lot in Mercersburg, and built a two-story brick house to serve both as a home and a place of business.
The senior Buchanan moved his family into this location in 1797. After an early childhood life at "Stony Batter," life in Mercersburg proved much more genteel and orderly. The community had only several dozen houses and was entirely Scottish.
Buchanan's father opened a store, in what is now the Pub, and introduced young James to the problem of keeping things accounted for and in their proper places. By the time James was 10 years of age, his father was one of Mercersburg's leading businessmen.
The senior Buchanan's philosophy of life "The more you know of mankind, the more you will distrust them," gave him the reputation of being a very "hard businessman" in the small community.
When Buchanan was sixteen he left Mercersburg to attend Dickinson College. The Buchanan home in Mercersburg later became "Hotel Mercer."
The hotel at a later date was sold to J.O. Carson, and became the possession of the McAfee Bros. after their hotel burned. The Brothers refitted the two-story building and added an additional story for the hotel needs. After a few years the hotel was sold to C.W. McLaughlin.
During the McLaughlin years of ownership the present Pub area was fondly known as "The McLaughlin Drug Store" or "Jacks" Drug Store as all the locals knew it.
The current owner, Maxwell S. Paul, bought the property in 2022.
The hotel is open daily to accommodate overnight guests.
Mercersburg History
To visit Mercersburg is to step back in time. As the boyhood home of the fifteenth president, James Buchanan, Mercersburg offers rich colonial, Underground Railroad, and Civil War history. Settled by James Black, a Scottish-Irish immigrant, in 1730, the town was originally called Black’s Town. Take the historic walking tour of downtown, enjoy the wonderful early American architecture and listen for the lovely 43-bell carillon of the Mercersburg Academy Chapel.
Geography
Mercersburg is situated in the south-central area of the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania four miles north of the Mason-Dixon line, twenty miles northwest of Hagerstown, Maryland, and twenty miles southwest of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Because of the Conococheague Creek that flows throughout the area it was long known as the Conococheague Settlement. Well-watered by the creek, it has always been a rich agricultural area with dairy cattle and grains predominant. Therefore, because of the grains and the streams to provide water power in former times many mills were built along its streams.
James Black and Hugh Mercer
Mercersburg itself was founded by James Black who established a mill about 1750. He later sold his land to William Smith, who in turn transmitted the land to William Smith Jr., who laid out the town he called Mercersburg in honor of Revolutionary War General Hugh Mercer, who at one time had a surgery and veterinary practice near here and who died in 1777 from wounds received at the Battle of Princeton.
French and Indian War
Mercersburg has always reflected the larger events in the narrative of history. During the French and Indian War as Indian raids and rumors of raids were frequent, many narratives tell of these events. One is that of the kidnapping of the young brothers, John and James McCullough, from a field near their home. Another is that of James Smith’s captivity in the same period and his account of later retaliation with his famous “Black Boys” against the British in 1765 at Fort Loudon for failure to enforce Imperial Indian trade policy, action that earned him the sobriquet “the first rebel.”
President James Buchanan and Others of Note
Many people prominent in our state and national history were born in the Mercersburg area. The Irwin sisters, Jane Irwin Harrison, hostess in the White House during the Presidency of her father-in-law, William Henry Harrison, and Elizabeth Irwin Harrison, mother of President Benjamin Harrison, were born two miles east of Mercersburg. Two state governors, William Findlay and Joseph Hiester, likewise, came from the area. Foremost is James Buchanan, fifteenth President, who was born two miles west of Mercersburg at a mountain trading post called Stony Batter and who with his family moved to Mercersburg about 1796. His niece, Harriet Lane, later hostess in the White House during his Presidency, was born in a house across the street from the Buchanan store and home.