During my brief visit to Mercersburg back in 2008, I remember it as a nicely preserved old town without the strip malls and corporate chain stores. Now that I approach it from anothe direction, I find, well, it does have a couple of strip malls on the outskirts, but it still ranks highly as far as being a well preserved town.

Mercersburg Academy, with it's beautiful old stone buildings caught my attention back in 08 . Back then I though it was a private college campus. But no, it's an elite private high school--the first private academy of its sort that I've explored. I do a little research and find that it's a "highly selective" school that costs 52,000 a year for boarding students--more than what the average family around here earns. It seems an odd place to have such an academy--tucked against the mountains in what would otherwise be considered a rather redneck part of America.

As I walk about, seeing the crisply dressed staff and students, I wonder... what exactly does this school offer that "better prepares" the students for success in life? Is it the special connections, perhaps? The prestige of a Mercersburg Academy diploma?

I may be wrong, but somehow this feels like a relic of another era... The Academy's mission does strike me as a bit ironic: "Mercersburg Academy prepares young men and women from diverse backgrounds for life in the global community" I mean, for this objective, wouldn't in be better for these young folks to actually live in the "global community" rather than in a isolated boarding school in Mercersburg?

One spot I missed on my last visit was the cabin where president James Buchanan was born . The original site of this cabin was a few miles from here, but the cabin itself was moved right here to the Academy. It's a simple, one room log cabin, with a cozy little loft. I'll talk more on this fellow's life a little later...

I continue on through Mercersburg proper, and enjoy the town's charm once again. Here, historical buildings don't only have a plaque on them stating so, they actually give the history of the occupants and what the building has been used for over the last 200 years.

Presidents in Mercersburg

After I little wander around, I continue on up the road. The mountains are getting closer, and just a mile or so away, I reach the "forest line" where the fertile farmland of the Cumberland Valley ends and the forest of the Tuscarora Mountains begin... it's a welcome change.

Here I find a restaurant where I figure I'll grab a quick bite to eat . Thinking it'll be just another generic diner, I'll pleasantly surprised to find a newspaper clipping on the wall that at shows president---yes, president Carter eating at this restaurant! Yes, I expected to see "president X ate here" clippings in Washington DC--but in Mercersburg?! Turns out President Carter was passing through, visiting Buchanan's birthplace and Mercersburg Academy, and stopped here where he was given cake (it was his birthday).

I guess little bits of history pop up in the most unexpected places.

I reach a quiet side road through the forest to "Buchanan's birthplace State Park" It leads to a little stone pyramid to the spot where America's 15th president was born. I think--a rather odd place for a family to live, right next to the mountains, when you have some much flat arable land nearby...

Well, it turns out this was an important transportation route back in the late 1700s . Wagons carrying supplies to folks across the mountain had to stop here and the supplies were put on pack horses to carry across the mountain--and Buchanan's dad ran a trading post here. Gettin' around wasn't easy back then...

Nearby are a couple of plaques that try to put Buchanan's life and presidency in a positive light putting the blame on the media who painted him as "weak" and Lincoln as "strong" even though their position on slavery and preseving the Union were quite similar.

Later I decide to do a little research on Pennsylvania's only native president. As I already mentioned in my Williamsport MD entry, he was quite possibly America's first gay president (though he never "came out of the closet"--this was the 1850s remember!)

Then there's the Civil War that he brought to a quick stop through negotiation, compromise and level headed thinking before there were any serious casualties ...

See America was divided on a issue that one part of the country considered immoral, another section of the country considered an an essential part of their culture. So the president sent in federal troops to this region, replaced the governor with an outsider, and took control. A small war broke out, which was quickly resolved. A new government was put in place, and the federal troops withdrew to a respectful distance to not provoke more violence. Then the "immoral practice" of this culture was phased out so this region could be fully a part of mainstream America.

Sound like I'm creating an "alternate history" to the war between North and South? No. This was the War between East and West, between the US government and the Mormons of Utah. And the "moral issue" wasn't slavery, it was polygamy. For some reason this conflict was solved quickly with minimal bloodshed, unlike the "other" Civil War...

Too bad we weren't able to solve that "other" conflict in such a calm, clear headed manner...

Makes me wonder... wouldn't it be better if we celebrated all the Civil Wars in our history that almost happened but didn't? Those are the things we should really be proud of!

I ponder this as I take a short walk through the forest... then head on back to the main road, and back hope. The hike over the mountain will have to wait for another day.