From our beginning, there have been but two presidents who were avid and passionate waterfowlers: Presidents Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland. When he became president, Cleveland hunted on what was termed the “Great Presidential Preserve.” It laid south of Washington and took in the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay to the ocean beyond. One of his favorite spots on the Potomac was Wide Water, Stafford County, Virginia along the shores of Aquia Creek, long the favorite of gunners in the immense marshes and creeks of the Potomac River. Cleveland was such an avid waterfowler that his moniker was “Cleveland the Sportsman.” He frequently sought relaxation from the trying duties of his office by taking to the gun and hunting along the shores of the Potomac and the Chesapeake Bay, and other localities for waterfowl, not so much during his first term, but more so during his second term. He spent more time hunting and fishing while in office than any other president, so much so that he was constantly criticized by the press. A fine wing shot, Cleveland was a persistent gunner. On the Chesapeake Bay and the Carolinas, where he so often shot, really no matter where he duck hunted, he oftentimes sat in a duck blind from dawn to dusks, scorning the customary midday return to camp and quitting only when he got his limit. The President never missed an opportunity to go duck hunting to relieve the monotony of his official duties, doing as best as he could surreptitiously. Other times, however, he combined it with official business. Nobody in Washington could predict at just what moment he would take a notion to head off for a duck-hunting trip. Like Harrison and Teddy Roosevelt, Cleveland was a dedicated conservationist. In 1894, he signed the Yellowstone Protection Act, making the park the first wildlife refuge in the nation. In 1896, he created 13 new forest reserves, incorporating over 21 million acres of timberland from Washington to Wyoming and established the Grand Canyon and Mount Ranier as national parks. He was considered one of the three greatest presidents that the country has ever had, along with Lincoln and Washington. Once called “the greatest duck shooter on the face of the earth,” he was a true sportsman all his life in his love of nature, his thankfulness in the giver of all good things, and his scorn of wanton slaughter. He became what he himself called a “serene duck hunter.” Without neglecting his own business or shifting official burdens to less able shoulders, he seized every opportunity to get near to Mother Nature with his rod or gun.