By Henry M. Holden

History tells us that the troubles of the French monarch Napoleon Bonaparte had a lasting effect on his country and on his older brother Joseph, (1768-1844). Joseph was more admired than Napoleon. And the cataclysm that surrounded Napoleon would to a lesser degree cause Napoleon to be mindful and protective of  him. 

Joseph was not a king when he was in America, but he had sat on a throne, wore a crown and royal robes rich with precious gold, silver with diamonds.

Napoleon, who after having conquered a great many nations in Europe  and having deposed their kings supplied them with new sovereigns out of his own family. Joseph was sent to Italy to be king of Naples. Joseph really did not want to be king because he knew the people did not want him. After some  time had passed both Joseph and his brother agreed to send him to Spain where the ruling monarch had recently vacated his throne. Joseph did not like the idea, but he also realized that he was at his brother’s call, and that making him king of Madrid gave him access to a fortune in gold and precious gems.  But the people of Spain did not want him as their ruler. As time slipped by the people of Madrid rose up in rebellion and were assisted by the English, and the Portuguese.   

When the powers of Napoleon came to an end, Joseph realized that it was time to get out of Europe. Nothing he could do but leave or face dire consequences. Joseph packed a small fortune in gold and gems and boarded Commerce, a small ship that was destined for the newly formed country of America. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean with his secretary and in disguise under the name of M. Bouchard. British naval officers had searched the ship three times but not even the captain knew his real identity.

In 1816, after fleeing Europe following the complete  defeat of his brother, Napoleon, at Waterloo, Joseph Bonaparte bought some property and the land from an American diplomat Stephen Sayre. The estate was located on a promontory overlooking Crosswicks Creek and the Delaware River.

Joseph had been a king twice, but not in France. When Emperor Napoleon was roundly defeated at Waterloo Joseph knew it was time for him to pull up roots and find  a safer place to live.

What was Joseph doing in New Jersey? When his identity in America was discovered, the people treated them with respect and attention. In fact, America owed so much to France that America was ready to show her gratitude.

Once Joseph was out of Europe, he gave up the idea of ever returning to France and decided to settle in Jersey and make his home there. He bought 211 acres of land near Bordentown on a high wooden hill called Point Breese.  At the time of the (first) mansion’s construction in 1819, it was the largest residence in the United States.

He lived in Breezy Hill on the banks of the Delaware River right here in the United States.

Joseph very quickly replaced the existing house with a mansion and acquired more land, eventually owning more than 1,800 acres. Bonaparte then set about making the estate the center of society on the East Coast.

Many members of high society, politicians, and overseas dignities visited what became known as Bonaparte’s Park.

Among the exalted visitors were Henry Clay,  Daniel Webster, and John Quincy Adams. It became famous for its landscape, gardens, extensive art collection (with more than 150 paintings by Flemish and Italian masters), and 8,000 volumes, which was one of the largest libraries in the United States at the time.

Bonaparte had the original painting of his brother Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David prominently displayed in the house.

On January 4, 1820, Bonaparte’s first mansion burned down. Many of the furnishings and books from the house were saved by neighbors and servants who ran into the building while it was ablaze; they were publicly thanked by Bonaparte.

Following the fire, Bonaparte had a new mansion built. It was larger than the first, with the existing stables enlarged and moved further back from the promontory. Construction was supervised by French émigré Michel Bouvier. On completion, it was viewed – perhaps diplomatically – as the “second-finest house in America” (after the White House).

In 1839, Joseph Bonaparte returned to Europe, never to come back to Point Breeze. When he died in Florence, Italy, in 1844. Point Breeze was inherited by his grandson Joseph Lucien Bonaparte, who sold the estate and most of its contents at auction three years later. The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts later acquired a significant number of furnishings and paintings from the house.

By 1850, Point Breeze was owned by Hamilton Beckett, the son of Henry Beckett, the British consul in Philadelphia. After moving into the gatehouse, he had the main house torn down. A third mansion was built on the site which survived until 1983 when it was lost to a fire.

In 1874, the Vincentian Fathers of Philadelphia purchased Point Breeze for use as a summer retreat. In 1911, they sold it to industrialist Harris Hammond. After the 1929 stock market crash, the house was repossessed by the bank and lay vacant for over ten years.

In 1941, Divine Word Missionaries, a Catholic religious community, acquired the property. They used the property as a seminary and in later years as a retirement community.

The estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 10, 1977, for its significance in architecture, landscape architecture, and politics/government. It includes five contributing buildings and two contributing sites.

In 2006, Richard Veit, a professor of archaeology at Monmouth University, led several archaeological digs on the property. The digs have unearthed over 20,000 artifacts, including shards of ceramic tableware, glass, wine bottles, door hardware, and tapestry buttons. Many of the recovered artifacts are charred by the 1820 fire.

In 2020, the City of Bordentown and D&R Greenway Land Trust partnering with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection acquired the remaining 60 acres of the estate for $4.6 million from Divine Word Missionaries. 5.6 acres of the site became the new municipal complex for the city which opened in August 2022. The remaining land will remain as open space with walking trails. This ex-king never became an American citizen by taking out naturalization papers; but the legislature of New Jersey treated him very well and passed a resolution which enabled him to hold property in New Jersey and thus become a Jerseyman.

In 2021, the property was jointly purchased by the State of New Jersey and a land preservation trust with the intent of establishing a public park.

It is quite possible that the people of the neighborhood imagined that the ex-king was in greater danger of molestation from his former royal brethren than was really the case. Their reasons for supporting that was his family had come to heart ache and  there was reason to fear  a  surprise capture was something Joseph worried about. But if this ex-king had been a rich country gentleman of the neighborhood, he could not have been more popular. He was hospitable and frequently gave small parties and   he sent flowers and fruits from his garden to his friends and neighbors. He made roads  and contributed in many ways to the improvement  of the country around his home.

In the winter the boys of Bordentown came to skate on his  pond and at such times he almost always provided refreshments such as roasted chestnuts.

In many ways it was his kind and sociable disposition that made him so much more liked, that if officers of the law had come to take him back to Europe he would have received such timely notice of their approach it would have been necessary for him to hurray away through one of the many underground passages he had constructed at the time the mansion was being built.

Just before Joseph started for America, the affairs of his family were at their lowest p0int ever. His  brother, the great Napoleon, had fallen from grace and his high position. He could look forward to nothing but imprisonment by the European countries whose thrones had been for so long been in the habit upsetting or threating.

In his last conversation when he was on his way to the ship that would take him to America Joseph generously offered to  swap  places with his brother and to let Napoleon go to America instead  of himself. It was very difficult to get out  of  France at that time but Joseph had made very detailed plans and had passports. He had provided for two people coming to America on business and his brother could have used one of them for himself.    

But Napoleon refused to run away and hide. He was soon captured and was imprisoned in St. Helena.

After years had elapsed and with the absence of any attempts to arrest him Joseph, feeling safe, made a trip to England. He was welcomed without any hostility. In 1844 he made a trip to Italy and died there.

Joseph Bonaparte found himself in a  unique position of  being the only person in the State of New Jersey who numbered  among her citizens the owner of a royal crown and regal robes.