Buchanan Cottage Scrapbooks and Guestbook, PC.5102

[Identification of item], PC.5102, Buchanan Cottage Scrapbooks and Guestbook, Outer Banks History Center, Manteo, NC, U.S.A.

This collection comprises four scrapbooks and a guestbook created by members of the Buchanan Family from 1937 to 2012. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, postcards, invitations, brochures, and other memorabilia documenting major events in the Outer Banks and important visitors to the cottage. The first scrapbook was created by Mattie Toms Buchanan beginning in 1937, shortly after the cottage was built, and she continued to add materials to it until her death in 1957. The scrapbook focuses heavily on President Franklin D. Roosevelt's visit to Dare County and the Buchanan Cottage in August 1937.

Chronological

The Buchanan Cottage, located in Nags Head, N.C., is one of the most photographed historic homes in the Outer Banks. As of 2018, it stands in the Nags Head Beach Cottage Row Historic District at 4013 South Virginia Dare Trail. The cottage was built in 1936 by Mattie McMullan Toms Buchanan (5 June 1895-9 July 1957) and her husband John Adams Buchanan (14 June 1888-26 November 1976). Mattie was the daughter of Clinton White Toms (1868-1936), a Durham, N.C. resident and president of Liggett and Myers Tobacco Company, and Mary Newton Newby Toms (1871-1925). John was the son of Luther Thomas Buchanan (1855-1930) and Francis Esther "Fannie" Rogers Buchanan (1860-1919). The couple had five daughters: Mary Frances Buchanan Flowers (11 June 1918-16 March 2010), Martha Toms Buchanan Wadsworth (1 June 1921-6 August 2003), Susan Buchanan (30 May 1924-25 December 1990), Betsy Buchanan Greene (18 May 1926-28 May 2000), and Anne Buchanan Tomlinson (2 April 1930-7 August 2014). The family used the cottage as a summer home when vacationing from Durham.

The Buchanan Cottage exemplifies what has come to be known as the distinct Nags Head architectural style, with wrap-around porches, hinged shutters, dormers, and a gabled roof. The home has eight bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms. It was owned by the Buchanans and their descendants until 2012, when it sold to a prominent eastern North Carolina family. While owned by the Buchanan family, the home had many visitors, whom are documented in the cottage's extensive guestbook. Shortly after the cottage's construction, in 1937, the Buchanans hosted President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who stopped at the cottage for lunch while visiting the Outer Banks to attend a performance of The Lost Colony. Roosevelt's signature appears in the guestbook, along with many other dignitaries and representatives.

Collection Contents

Buchanan Family

Buchanan, Mattie McMullan Toms, 1895-1957

Buchanan, John Adams, 1888-1976

Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945

Family vacations--North Carolina

Recreation--North Carolina

Dare County (N.C.)--History--20th century

Nags Head (N.C.)--Architecture

Nags Head (N.C.)--Dwellings

Nags Head (N.C.)--History--20th century

Beach Cottage Row Historic District (Nags Head, N.C.)

Donated by William Flowers, October 2012.

Processed by Samantha Crisp, December 2017.