The third, and possibly the oldest, is a stone house on East High Street owned before 1760 by William Buchanan, innholder. Buchanan and his extended family had much to do with the rise of Carlisle as a commercial center.
William Buchanan married Esther, daughter of Justice Samuel and Sydney Gamble Smith. He was living at Marsh Creek and keeping a tavern and store in 1752 when a sale of land was advertised to take place at his house. The same year, the Buchanan's moved to Carlisle. In August 1752, a local carpenter mortgaged his house and lot in Carlisle to "William Buchanan of Carlisle, innholder". Buchanan's tavern was located on Lot 109. In January 1760, William Buchanan of Carlisle, gentleman, and his wife, Esther conveyed his property to James Pollock of Carlisle, tavern keeper, for the substantial sum of £1200 Pennsylvania currency, since the Buchanans were about to move to Baltimore. The price Pollock paid for the property is an indication that Pollock bought buildings erected by Buchanan as an inn. The tavern was described in a 1773 newspaper advertisement as a thirty-three-foot-square stone building with a twenty-five-foot-square stone addition that housed a kitchen and bar room on the first floor and lodging rooms on the second floor. Both buildings are still standing at 137 East High Street. Originally a handsome two-story Georgian house, the larger building had the roof raised and an additional story with a fashionable mansard roof added in the 1870's.
During his years in Carlisle, Buchanan was more than an innkeeper. As early as 1753, he was associated with Callender and Taaffe in the Indian trade. He was also a general merchant in Carlisle in the 1750's. Buchanan moved to Baltimore in 1760, where he was an important merchant, first in partnership with Barnabas Hughes and then with his brother-in-law John Smith.
