By Anne Levin

Richard Veit

As the home of Napoleon’s brother Joseph Bonaparte, the Point Breeze estate in Bordentown has been a local point of interest since Bonaparte, the exiled King of Spain, lived there from 1816 to 1839. The 60-acre property, which once included some 2,200 acres, was preserved by D&R Greenway Land Trust, the State of New Jersey, and the City of Bordentown in 2020.

Relics found at the site during multiple architectural digs are the subject of a presentation in celebration of Bastille Day on Sunday, July 14 at 2 p.m. Richard Veit, professor of anthropology at Monmouth University, will talk about the history of the site and the artifacts he has unearthed. Some of them come from the days of Lenape hunters; others are more recent, from the last century.

Veit is a member of the Archaeological Society of New Jersey. At the Bastille Day event, he will weave together the stories of two digs that connect Point Breeze to France, through the Bonaparte family. In partnership with Divine Word Missionaries — which owned the property from 1941 to 2020 — and D&R Greenway, Veit led excavations around the site of Bonaparte’s first mansion and behind the gardener’s house. Some of the artifacts he has exhumed are on display at the Discovery Center, located in the former gardener’s house.

“I’m very excited to host Dr. Veit and learn the story behind his discoveries,” said Melanie Mead, the manager at the Discovery Center, in a release. “This will be a special day when attendees can both hear about and see artifacts from Joseph Bonaparte’s first mansion that was destroyed by fire in 1820.”

As the story goes, Bonaparte fled Europe after his brother was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, eventually making his way to New Jersey. After the first house burned down, Bonaparte is believed to have lived in his gardener’s house while the second mansion was being built. That house is now the site’s museum and Discovery Center.

That estate was “a small town for an exiled king,” reads a newsletter from D&R Greenway Land Trust at the time of the acquisition.

In the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, Veit wrote that “Joseph Bonaparte’s Point Breeze estate was one of the finest country houses in the Delaware Valley. Although only traces of the original Point Breeze mansions in Bordentown, New Jersey, remain, extensive archaeological deposits survive to reveal their grandeur during Bonaparte’s American sojourn.”

In the D&R Greenway newsletter, historian Patricia Tyson Stroud called the Bordentown years the happiest of Bonaparte’s life. “Throughout the Point Breeze years, Joseph hosted politicians, diplomats, artists, famous authors, and naturalists at his Point Breeze estate. Everyone from former President John Quincy Adams to the Marquis de Lafayette to Mexican revolutionaries visited Joseph Bonaparte and solicited his counsel.”

Veit has been conducting architectural digs around Point Breeze for more than a dozen years. “From those first digs, he has found amazing things,” said Linda Mead, D&R Greenway’s president and CEO. “There are pieces of marble from a mantlepiece. There are some old bottles, because Joseph was known to be a bit of a wino. There are various shards, and a tile we found around the gardener’s house. There are quite a few native American artifacts as well.”

Point Breeze has been a revelation to visitors, many of whom live locally but were unaware of its existence. “People are fascinated,” added Mead. “We had a talk there about the Delaware River last Saturday, and 65 people attended. Everybody is just enthralled with the whole thing. The history is just so interesting.”

The property is located on Park Street at Bordentown City’s gateway. Admission to the Bastille Day event is free; registration and a $10 donation is appreciated. Visit drgreeway.org for more information.