BRIDGEWATER, NJ – Artist James Fiorentino paid tribute to the life, legacy and land preservation efforts of World War II pilot Lt. Col. Vaucher, just days before the decorated aviator passed away at the age of 102 last week.
Fiorentino had been able to connect with Vaucher via a Zoom connection to show him the portrait he had painted. Vaucher, a veteran of 117 air missions during the World War II era, passed away a few days later.
The painting was presented to Vaucher s family during a virtual meeting of the Bridgewater Township Council on Feb. 11, 2021. The Flemington artist made the presentation along with D&R Greenway Land Trust President & CEO Linda Mead in recognition of Vaucher s efforts to preserve the historic 36-acre Steele s Gap tract.
New Jersey estate of Napoleon s brother Joseph Bonaparte - the ex-king of Spain who fled to the US after Waterloo - is sold for $4.6M and will be turned into a public park
Joseph Bonaparte fled to the US from Europe after his brother Napoleon s Battle of Waterloo defeat in 1815
The exiled former king of Spain settled in Bordentown, New Jersey, and built an estate called Point Breeze
At the heart of the property was a mansion fit for royalty, spanning nearly 38,000-sq-ft across three stories
It featured an 8,000-book library and an art collection complete with the Spanish crown jewels
Napoleonâs Brother Lived in N.J. Hereâs What Happened to the Estate.
The site in Bordentown once harbored Joseph Bonaparte, a former king. A new partnership has ensured that its history wonât be forgotten.
A bridge is one of the remaining structures on Point Breeze, the 60-acre estate that Joseph Bonaparte built in New Jersey after he fled Europe.Credit.Rachel Wisniewski for The New York Times
New Jersey? Not so much.
Napoleon, the French emperor, never stepped foot in the state, but New Jersey was home to another Bonaparte: Napoleonâs older brother, Joseph, who was once the king of Naples and then Spain.
What to Know
Most of the former New Jersey country estate that once belonged to the oldest brother of Napoleon Bonaparte is to be part of the state’s park system following a recent purchase.
The $4.6 million purchase by the New Jersey environmental protection department, the city of Bordentown and the nonprofit D & R Greenway Land Trust was finalized Dec. 18 with Divine Word Missionaries, the Catholic order that had owned the site since 1941.
Joseph Bonaparte and other family members emigrated to the United States after the 1815 abdication of Napoleon. His Point Breeze residence, exceeded in size only by the White House, housed collections of paintings, books, and birds that were also among the largest and best in the young United States, the Philadelphia Inquirer said.