Point Breeze (estate)
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Point Breeze was an estate in
Bordentown, New Jersey Bordentown is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 3,924.Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...
, the brother of
Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
, from 1816 to 1839.


Bonaparte estate


Grounds

In 1816, after he had fled Europe following the defeat of his brother at Waterloo, Joseph Bonaparte bought the property and the land from American diplomat Stephen Sayre (1736–1818). The estate was located on a promontory which overlooked
Crosswicks Creek Crosswicks Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in Burlington County, New Jersey. Description Crosswicks Creek water ...
and the Delaware River. Very quickly he replaced the existing house with a new mansion and acquired more land, eventually owning more than . Bonaparte then set about making the estate the center of society on the East coast. Numerous members of high society, politicians, overseas dignities visited what became known as Bonaparte's Park. Soon it became famous for its landscape, gardens, extensive art collection with more than 150 paintings by Flemish and Italian masters, and 8,000 volume library, which was one of the largest libraries in the United States at that time. Bonaparte had the original painting of his brother,
Napoleon Crossing the Alps ''Napoleon Crossing the Alps'' (also known as ''Napoleon at the Saint-Bernard Pass'' or ''Bonaparte Crossing the Alps''; listed as ''Le Premier Consul franchissant les Alpes au col du Grand Saint-Bernard'') is a series of five oil on canvas e ...
by Jacques-Louis David, prominently displayed in the house.


Mansions

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. Following the fire, Bonaparte had a new mansion built. It was larger than the first, with the existing stables enlarged, further back from the overlook of the river. Construction was supervised by French émigré Michel Bouvier. On completion, it was generally viewed - perhaps diplomatically - as the “second-finest house in America” after the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
. In 1839 Joseph Bonaparte returned to Europe for good. He never returned to Breeze Point. When he died in
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
, Italy in 1844, Point Breeze was inherited by his grandson
Joseph Lucien Bonaparte Joseph Lucien Charles Napoléon Bonaparte, 3rd Prince of Canino and Musignano (12 February 1824 – 2 September 1865), was born in Philadelphia as the son of Charles Lucien Bonaparte and his wife (and cousin), Zénaïde Bonaparte. Upon his grand ...
, 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 amount of furnishings and paintings from the house.


Further ownership

By 1850, Point Breeze was owned by Hamilton Beckett, the son of Henry Beckett, the British consul in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
. 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 , logo = , image = Vincentians.png , abbreviation = CM , nickname = Vincentians, Paules, Lazarites, Lazarists, Lazarians , established = , founder = Vincent de Paul , fou ...
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 The Society of the Divine Word ( la, Societas Verbi Divini), abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Ri ...
, a Roman Catholic missionary
religious congregation A religious congregation is a type of religious institute in the Catholic Church. They are legally distinguished from religious orders – the other major type of religious institute – in that members take simple vows, whereas members of religi ...
, acquired the property. Divine Word used the property as a seminary and in later years as a retirement community.


Archaeological exploration

Since 2006, Richard Veit, a professor of archaeology at
Monmouth University Monmouth University is a private university in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956 and Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its charter. There are about 4,400 full ...
, has 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.


Preservation

The estate was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
on August 10, 1977, for its significance in architecture, landscape architecture, and politics/government. It includes 5 contributing buildings and 2 contributing sites. With In 2020, the City of Bordentown and D&R Greenway Land Trust partnering with the
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is a government agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is responsible for managing the state's natural resources and addressing issues related to pollution. NJDEP now has a staff ...
acquired the remaining 60 acres of the estate for $4.6 million from Divine Word Missionaries. The land will remain as open space with walking trails.


Gallery

File:Charles B. Lawrence - Point Breeze, the Estate of Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte at Bordentown, New Jersey - 1987.170 - Art Institute of Chicago.jpg, Landscape painting of the estate, attributed to Charles B. Lawrence, 1817–1820 File:Bordentown Joseph Bonaparte 003.jpg, New mansion built by Beckett


References


External links

* * {{NRHP in Burlington County, New Jersey Bordentown, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Burlington County, New Jersey Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places Houses in Burlington County, New Jersey