The LancasterHistory campus on the School Lane Hills side of Marietta Avenue doesn't close for the year all at once. Between now and New Year's, programs end one at a time. The Arboretum's Nature Series ends on Nov. 7. Regular Wheatland house tours end on Nov. 14. The house closes for almost a week to change over, and on Nov. 21 it reopens as a different, holiday-themed tour. The 11 wooded acres around the house don't follow that schedule at all. LancasterHistory lists the Louise Arnold Tanger Arboretum as open to the public from dawn to dusk with no admission charge.

For a School Lane Hills household, that makes the campus two places. One is a ticketed museum with a shrinking fall calendar. The other is a free tree collection that stays open after the tours stop. The dates below show where each program ends, and the grounds are there through all of them.

One Campus, Two Addresses

Lancaster Township's historic-homes page lists Wheatland at 1120 Marietta Avenue. The same page describes the 1931 Liegh P. Helm House at 1207 Marietta as sitting "near President Buchanan's residence in Lancaster Township's School Lane Hills." LancasterHistory uses a different address for the campus, 230 N. President Avenue, which covers the Museum & Research Center, Wheatland and the arboretum.

The two addresses matter when you drive. LancasterHistory says the Marietta Avenue driveway is closed to vehicles, so drivers should use the North President Avenue entrance, not GPS directions to the Wheatland driveway. Parking on site is free. The closest accessible spaces are at the main entrance facing North President Avenue. Printed maps sit in two map boxes, one near the Dwarf Conifer Garden along President Avenue and one near the Native Plant Pollinator Gardens at the corner of Marietta and North President. If you walk over from the Marietta side of the neighborhood, the corner garden is the natural place to pick up a map.

The Season, in the Order It Ends

Here is the full fall calendar for the campus, taken from LancasterHistory's events listing, its hours FAQ and its exceptions-to-hours page.

October Starts With 1856

On Oct. 10, the house tour takes a different form for one morning. "Wheatland to Washington: The 1856 Presidential Campaign of James Buchanan" opens with a curator's talk on campaign artifacts displayed in the Groff Gallery, then tours the house as the headquarters it was during that campaign. LancasterHistory notes that this isn't the standard general-admission tour. The township's history page adds that Buchanan gave his first campaign address to townspeople gathered on Wheatland's front lawn. LancasterHistory recommends reserving ahead because these tours can sell out, and members are admitted free.

A week later, on Oct. 17, the same grounds host "Past, Present, Pumpkins!": a pumpkin hunt across the property plus pumpkin decorating. It's designed for kids ages 3 to 8, and all ages are welcome. Registration is required so there are enough supplies, and at least one adult has to come with each household.

Two days after that, the whole organization closes. Monday, Oct. 19 is a staff in-service day, and the exceptions page says "all operations" are closed to the public. That is the only full-campus closure on the October calendar.

The Nature Series Ends First

The Friends of the Tanger Arboretum run the Nature Series, and both of its remaining 2026 programs meet in the Carriage House from 10 to 11 a.m. On Oct. 24, Lisa Sanchez, a senior naturalist at the Lancaster County Environmental Education Center, presents "Edible Insects." The program covers which insects are edible and which aren't, then cooks some for attendees to try. Tasting is voluntary, and anyone who tries one signs a waiver.

On Nov. 7, Andrew Leahy of the Horn Farm Center presents "A Tuber of Many Tales: The Sunchoke." It covers a native member of the sunflower family that was a staple of Indigenous diets across the East. LancasterHistory calls it the final Nature Series program of 2026. Both programs cost $10 for adults. Children 17 and under get in free with an adult, and Friends of the Tanger Arboretum members get in free but still need to register.

After Nov. 7, the arboretum has no scheduled programs left this year. The trees are still there to visit.

What the Grounds Hold Once the Programs Stop

LancasterHistory's arboretum page describes more than 100 tree species, two Pennsylvania State Champion trees, native-plant pollinator gardens and an American Conifer Society Reference Garden, also called the Dwarf Conifer Garden. Paths are a mix of paved and unpaved. A self-guided map and a photo ID guide for the pollinator garden are available in print and online.

The printed map guide was last updated in March 2023, so treat its specifics as the guide's own claims, not a confirmed current inventory. These are the entries most worth a fall walk:

• Dawn Redwood: the guide says it turns yellow and drops its needles in fall, which is unusual for a conifer.
• Red Maple: the guide estimates this tree could be about 275 years old, which would make it older than the 1828 house.
• Black Maple and Himalayan Pine: the guide lists both as Pennsylvania Champion trees, based on its 2023 information.

The house itself dates to 1828, according to the township. It was built for local lawyer William Jenkins and has never been significantly remodeled beyond modern lighting and heating. In practical terms, the dawn-to-dusk grounds let you see the house from the outside on any day, even when tours are closed.

Two Free Thursday Evenings

The campus has two evening programs on the calendar this fall. Both are free, both open with a reception at 5 p.m. and a lecture at 5:30, and both require advance registration for an in-person seat because capacity is limited.

On Oct. 29, Sarah Fling, a historian at the White House Historical Association, presents "White House Workers." The talk covers people who worked behind the scenes at the White House since 1800, including those who worked for Buchanan.

On Nov. 19, architect and historian Gregg Scott presents "C. Emlen Urban & The Chocolate King." It draws on his fall 2026 book, Urban and the Chocolate King, about Milton S. Hershey and the architect who designed for him over 50 years. Scott will sign books before and after the talk, and the Museum Store will sell copies while supplies last. This lecture falls during Wheatland's tour closure, which shows how the closure works. The exceptions page says only house tours stop from Nov. 16 to 20 while staff set up for Yuletide, and all other operations stay on their regular schedule. Both lectures also stream on Zoom for registered viewers, and the recordings go up on LancasterHistory's YouTube channel afterward.

Yuletide Runs Six Weeks, Then a Long Pause

Yuletide at Wheatland runs from Saturday, Nov. 21 through Wednesday, Dec. 30. The guided tour covers Christmas traditions that became popular while Buchanan lived at Wheatland from 1848 to 1868, including the Christmas turkey and the tabletop tree. Tours start on the half hour from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday. There are no tours on Sundays, Thanksgiving on Nov. 26, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Tickets went on sale Oct. 5. They cost $20 for adults, $18 for seniors and $10 for students. Children 10 and under get in free with a paying adult, and members are free. A ticket also covers the self-guided museum exhibitions, and LancasterHistory says tours sell out. Groups of 15 or more can book group pricing by calling (717) 392-4633, ext. 135.

After Yuletide ends, everything shuts down. The exceptions page lists all LancasterHistory operations as closed from Dec. 31, 2026 through Monday, Jan. 18, 2027, reopening for the 2027 season on Tuesday, Jan. 19. The Research Center also closes the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, while the rest of the campus stays open. If you're planning a December visit with out-of-town guests, the last open weekday is Wednesday, Dec. 30, and tour times there sell out like the rest of the holiday season.

Living a few blocks from a presidential home means having a public arboretum and an evening lecture series nearby. If you're curious how the homes along Marietta Avenue and the rest of School Lane Hills relate to the history next door, Stephanie Frysinger is glad to walk you through it. Schedule your free consultation, and we can talk about the street you live on or the one you're considering.