A Coolidge Christmas
In 1923 holiday anticipation grew among Washington residents, especially among the First Family. President Coolidge and First Lady Grace Coolidge awaited...
Painting of John Quincy Adams on Tiber Creek
- Date of Work
- 2009
- Credit
- White House Historical Association
Painting of John Quincy Adams on Tiber Creek
Painting by Peter Waddell
"Tiber Creek: The Bathers. John Quincy Adams Takes a Deadly Chance, 1825." Despite its later reputation as a swamp, the Tiber Creek, which in the nineteenth-century ran along where Constitution Avenue runs today, was idyllic with extensive plants and wildlife including the now extinct Carolina Parakeet. President John Quincy Adams liked to swim in its quiet waters. During this particular adventure with his son, John, and servant, Antoine Giusta, the boat carrying the party was leaky and began filling with water, leaving the president fighting for his life in the river! Luckily he reached the opposite shore, only to wait several hours for rescue.
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