After his older brother’s defeat at Waterloo and the collapse of his own government in Spain, Joseph Bonaparte fled in disguise to the United States. He briefly lived amongst other French expatriates in New York and Philadelphia before purchasing 1,800 acres in Bordentown, New Jersey. With this land located roughly halfway between Philadelphia and New York, Bonaparte planned to turn his Point Breeze Estate into the new center of high society in the United States. To entertain guests, the 38,000 square-foot, three-story home had one of the largest libraries in…
