![]() ![]() It was the first time in 30 years of doing land preservation that I’ve had to wait for something from the Vatican!” ![]() The final word for that had to come from the consulate in Rome. A number of developers were interested, for different reasons, and that was constantly happening while we were putting together what we could come up with for preservation. ![]() All of us were working from home because of the pandemic. One of the staff people at the Green Acres program took the lead. “From that point forward, we did studies of the property and negotiated for the contract. He was also looking for larger municipal headquarters, and the surviving building on the property fit the bill. had been raised in Bordentown and knew the property well. Then we reached out to the City of Bordentown.” We talked with the state, who immediately said yes - the Green Acres program had preserved land already, along the bluffs. “We called the head priest and he invited us to bring an offer forward. “The scuttlebutt of that time was that the headquarters of Divine Word needed to be moved elsewhere because of the cost,” Mead said. Mead and colleagues first learned there might be an opportunity to purchase the property about two years ago. Over the years, the land trust has held some programs at the Divine Word Missionaries, previous owners of the property. D&R Greenway has been involved for more than 25 years with the Abbott Marshlands, the wetlands area betweenīordentown and Trenton that is adjacent to the estate. The $4.6 million preservation agreement is a collaborative effort of D&R Greenway Land Trust, the New Jersey Green Acres Program, and the City of Bordentown. Others have objects like chairs or china that have come from Bonapartes.” “Some have said they are descendants of Bonapartes. “So many people have been in touch with us,” said Mead. There have also been calls from individuals with Bonaparte connections. Remnants of tunnels, leading from Bonaparte’s mansions to the waterways, can still be viewed.Īt the time, the estate included sculpture gardens, coach trails, bridges, stables, a gardener’s house, a lake, and a three-story mansion “that contained an extensive wine cellar, an extravagant art collection, and a library that contained 8,000 volumes, more than the Library of Congress at that time, and Bonaparte employed hundreds of people at the estate,” according to an article in Royal Central, one of the international news services to cover the story along with London’s Daily Mail and the Spanish news service EFE. The location, between Philadelphia and New York, was documented in many paintings of the era that can be seen today in museums. The land is high on the Bordentown Bluffs overlooking extensive marshlands and the confluence of Crosswicks Creek and the Delaware River. He fled to the United States in 1815 and bought the Point Breeze estate in 1817 from diplomat Stephen Sayre. Point Breeze was the palatial estate of Joseph Bonaparte, the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte and former King of Spain and Naples. It has been amazing to me how many people have come forward since we made this announcement, and how many calls we have gotten, from everywhere.” “Joseph Bonaparte was the exiled king of Spain, so they are so excited about it. “Yesterday I was on a call with a Spanish news service,” said D&R Greenway CEO and President Linda Mead on Tuesday. Since the New York Times published an article about plans by D&R Greenway Land Trust of Princeton and partners to preserve the Point Breeze Bonaparte estate in Bordentown last month, media from all over the world have been clamoring for the story. News of its preservation has caught the attention of news sources across the globe. AN ERA GONE BY: This historic painting from Joseph Bonaparte’s Point Breeze estate, by Thomas Birch, dates from 1818 and is one of many works of art documenting the property in Bordentown once owned by Napoleon’s brother. ![]()
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