Come take a break from the ordinar in this nostalgic setting of the Western Reserve!

 

The Buckingham Suite is a deluxe VIP room. The queen-size sleigh bed and armoire anchor the room as the gas fireplace and whirlpool bath offer the modern amenities that set the mood for a very special evening.

History

The Buckingham Suite is named after John Buckingham and his wife Ester Hank Buckingham who unlike most early Hiram settlers who hailed from Connecticut, came from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, by way of southwestern Pennsylvania and Southington, in Trumbull County. In 1830 they bought a farm on one hundred acres a quarter of a mile north of Hiram Center, and there built the family home now known as “Buckingham Place.” Zeb Rudolph was the builder, and tradition has it that the young James A. Garfield, later to become Zeb’s son-in-law, was the carpenter’s helper.

The Buckingham House was a showplace in its day since it was large and contained several amenities not enjoyed by other Hiram residents, such as a modern cooking stove, a chain-stitch sewing machine, and an oven in the woodhouse that could bake two dozen pies at once. It was also one of the first homes that had running water in the kitchen, which was supplied by gravitation from a spring, located up the hill and behind the house.

In 1833, the six Buckingham children had scattered and no member of the family was living in Hiram. The lovely house fell into disrepair until it was restored by the Reverend and Mrs. Henry Buckingham Mowbray who, in 1935, deeded it to Hiram College to become the home of the college’s presidents.