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All presidents have their hobbies—and President John Quincy Adams loved swimming in the Potomac River. An avid swimmer, Adams began his daily tradition of waking up between four and six o’clock in the morning to swim in the river while serving as secretary of state for President James Monroe. Swimming was his primary source of exercise, as he explained in an 1819 diary entry: “I find it, as always, conducive to health, cleanliness, and comfort." As was common at the time, John Quincy Adams left his clothing on a nearby rock, skinny dipping in the Potomac for “an hour and half to two hours” at a time. Upon moving into the White House in 1825, he continued his daily routine, and even brought his steward, Antoine Michel Giusta, with him. To reach the river, Adams and his companions swam the Tiber Creek near the White House (now beneath Constitution Avenue), a tributary of the Potomac. However, the creek could be dangerous at times, with swiftly-rising tides and fast-moving currents. On June 13, 1825, President Adams learned the dangers of the Tiber first hand. The president, his son John, and Antoine took a boat down the creek with the intention of swimming back—however, the rapids at the mouth of the Potomac filled the boat and it nearly sank! All three men survived, but Adams later wrote in his diary: “By the mercy of God our lives were spared, and no injury befell our persons…This incident gave me a humiliating lesson and solemn warning not to trifle with danger. The reasons upon which I justify to myself my daily swimming in the river did not apply to this adventure. It is neither necessary for my health, nor even for pleasure, that I should swim across the river…I must strictly confine myself to the purposes of health, exercise, and salutary labor.” The modern painting below, titled “Tiber Creek: The Bathers”, by artist Peter Waddell, depicts the fateful events of that day. Image Credit: White House Historical Association