{"id":166596,"date":"2026-07-26T10:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T10:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/166596\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T10:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T10:24:10","slug":"where-the-presidents-spent-their-summers-from-coolidge-to-carter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/166596\/","title":{"rendered":"Where the Presidents Spent Their Summers, From Coolidge to Carter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>To be the president of the United States is to be on call all hours of the day. No phoning in with a sore throat, no snow days, and definitely no summer Fridays. The 24\/7 nature of the highest office in the land is about as demanding as they come, which is why the \u2018summer White House\u2019 is a longstanding tradition. Presidential vacations\u2014or, where the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vogue.com\/slideshow\/25-vintage-photos-of-jackie-kennedy-summering-in-hyannis-port-massachusetts\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">presidents spend summers<\/a>\u2014are not vacations in the traditional sense of the term, but rather, a physical getaway from the White House in a scenic setting, usually accompanied by their families. All the duties remain, just somewhere more restorative than the Oval Office.<\/p>\n<p>In the early years, presidents would simply go home during the summer to tend to their gardens and farms. A bit later on, a cottage on the <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.whitehousehistory.org\/the-soldiers-home\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.whitehousehistory.org\/the-soldiers-home&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehousehistory.org\/the-soldiers-home\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Old Soldiers\u2019 Home<\/a> campus became the official presidential summer house, with James Buchanan the first to make it his regular summer retreat. The cottage sat on 225 acres in the northern part of the District of Columbia, not far from the White House. It also served as a summer White House for Abraham Lincoln, and is where he is believed to have drafted the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vogue.com\/slideshow\/central-park-conservancy-juneteenth-dinner-seneca-village\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Emancipation Proclamation<\/a>. As the years went on and ease of transportation improved, presidents summered further afield, cementing the tradition.<\/p>\n<p>Below, discover 15 destinations where presidents spent their summers, and for the history buffs, keep an eye out for preserved residences you can still visit.<\/p>\n<p>Quincy, Massachusetts (John Adams)<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain Grass Plant Lawn City Architecture Building Housing Urban Fence Hedge Neighborhood and Condo\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-dkeESL cQPiWi responsive-image__image\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/564117485.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The Old House at Peace Field was built in 1731 and was the Adams family residence for four generations. John and Abigail Adams purchased the property in 1788, and John returned during his presidency whenever official duties allowed. Later, when his son John Quincy Adams was president, he also visited Peace Field, particularly during the summers. The home is preserved by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/adam\/index.htm\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">National Park Service,<\/a> and today, you can tour the Old House and several acres of historic gardens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To be the president of the United States is to be on call all hours of the day.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[25955,10,11,76517,1975,11313],"class_list":["post-166596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-donald-trump","tag-living","tag-potus","tag-president-of-the-united-states","tag-textaboveleftsmall","tag-travel","tag-web"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116985794775087962","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}