Carol Comegno

@CarolComegno

Travelers along Park Street in Bordentown City likely may take more notice of the Ocean Spray processing plant than a patch of woods nearby.

No signs tell of the woods' history. Camouflaged by tree trunks and vines near the roadside are two granite pillars, one holding the rusting remnants of a gate.

Today, the pillars form an eerie entrance into what was once part of a sprawling estate that stretched across both sides of Crosswicks Creek.

Few realize a king lived on its 1,000-plus acres.

Point Breeze — the estate of Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon and former appointed king of Italy and Spain — was a home in exile.

With his brother's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Joseph Bonaparte escaped France in disguise, carrying a suitcase containing Spain's crown jewels.

He settled first in Philadelphia but later built two mansions on a bluff overlooking Crosswicks Creek and the Delaware River, where he lived from 1817 to 1839.

"It's one of New Jersey's hidden archaeological treasures," said Richard Veit, a professor of archaeology at Monmouth University.

Veit has led several archaeological digs on the property since 2006, joined by colleague Michael Gall and students as part of a university field school and research program. Now Veit is working on a dig report and a book.

The digs have unearthed 20,000 artifacts: shards of ceramic tableware, glass, wine bottles, door hardware and tapestry buttons, many charred by an 1820 fire at the first mansion.

They came from the property of Divine Word Missionaries, a Catholic order of priests and brothers known as the Society of the Divine Word.

In 1941, the order bought 250 acres of the estate stretching from the Bordentowns in Burlington County to Hamilton in adjacent Mercer County.

The order sold part to a developer for apartments and some to the state as Green Acres.

Except for a gardener's house, only crumbling or buried remnants remain of the estate — underground foundations; tunnels; docks; a wash house; and what was an extensive park system of gardens with a lake, walking paths and arched trail bridges.

Behind the Park Street pillars stood Bonaparte's second mansion, more regal than the first and built after fire destroyed much of the first home. Today the foundation of the original home, built in 1817, lies under a grassy lawn.

A thick cushion of leaves, brush, vines and soil hides the second home's foundation.

The lawn near the first mansion's site has a gaping hole close to the high, eroding creek bank. Closer inspection reveals a crumbling tunnel, its Roman-style, arched brick roof and stone walls partially collapsed from age and elements, now too dangerous to enter.

A peek inside reveals only darkness.

"The mythology has been the tunnels were constructed so (Bonaparte) could flee if British agents came to nab him or else to secretly give his paramours access to the house," Veit noted.

"But the best evidence we have is servants used them to bring food and other supplies from the docks to the houses — a practical use but nowhere as exciting a story."

Bonaparte possessed the largest book collection and the largest collection of paintings and sculpture in America. His estate was a social hub, attracting French expatriates and prominent Americans like President John Quincy Adams.

"(The site) was an icon for culture, a very special place and rivaled the White House," said Father Raymond Lennon of Divine Word.

When the first mansion caught fire, local residents rushed to the estate to help save his silver, gold, jewels, money, art collection and furniture.

In a letter to the local magistrate, Bonaparte later wrote:

"This event has proved to me how much the inhabitants of Bordentown appreciate the interest I have always felt for them; and shows that men in general are good ..."

Lennon said the missionaries would like to donate most of the artifacts to the New Jersey State Museum and Monmouth University.

The public can view furnishings from the Bonaparte houses at the Corson Poley Center of the Burlington County Historical Society in Burlington City.

They include a marble mantel, an Empire-style sleigh bed, a chamber pot cabinet and a marble-topped wooden dressing table used by Bonaparte's daughter.

"A lot of people don't know about this history," said Lisa Fox-Pfieffer, society executive director.

"I just find it fascinating that an exiled king of Spain would come here, create this magical place, integrate himself into American life and come to love this country."