• Joseph Bonaparte, the older brother of Napoleon, spent part of his exile living in the town near Natural Bridge. Small Lake Bonaparte is named after him.

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• in 1814, Joseph fled Spain, to be replaced by Ferdinand VII "the Desired," of the old Bourbon dynasty. Soon the Napoleonic adventure would come to a close in 1815 with the battle of Waterloo. However, Joseph was still on the loose and seeking a place of refuge. Carting with him the royal treasures of Spain, the 47 year old ex-king decided to disappear off the face of the earth. He purchased 26,840 acres in northern New York for approximately $120,000.

  • Disguised as "the Count de Survelliers," Joseph spent the cooler months in Philadelphia and the summer in the foothills of the Adirondacks. He met, wooed and eventually lived with a young Quaker woman named Annette Savage.

  • The mansion he eventually built in the village of Natural Bridge was a fortress 1825 1st visited by Jospeh

  • Though he only spent a few summers in the woods, the locals would tell tales for generations of incredible gondolas on the lake, "hunting parties in velvet suits and cloaks and ruffles, eating off gold plate in the forest... of the portable library that accompanied Bonaparte on his travels..."

  • The 1830 Revolution in France called Bonaparte home. He abandoned his home which he sold in 1835 and left Annette (though with a considerable settlement). He would die in 1844 without ever returning to his home or lover. He left behind some descendents, though Annette, in the North Woods and in fact one of them, Annette's daughter Caroline Benton, was recognized by Napoleon III in 1859. She was ruined when the Bonapartists fell in the Franco-Prussian War and returned to the United States in 1871. 

  • The Joseph Bonaparte home in Natural Bridge, NY is no longer standing. There are a number of photos of it including ones that appeared on commercially produced and one of a kind real photo postcards. The home was adjacent to the Natural Bridge caverns which is still open to visitors today. It is rumored the Bonaparte home has a secret escape route that led to the underground caverns. Discussions have been held about re-building a model of the home as a tourist attraction, but nothing is underway at this point of time, June 2006. Anyone interested in lake bonaparte is referred to its conservation club web site www.lake-bonaparte.org.

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• Anonymous said...My family owns a plot of land that has access to Bonaparte's cave. Have been there many times and have heard many stories / legends of the cave but would like to know more.  Our family tries to keep the trail clear so that hikers have easy access to the cave.  (http://yorkstaters.blogspot.com/2006/03/whats-in-name-4-lake-bonaparte.html)

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• in 1818, his friend returned from his excavating at Prangins Castle with five millions in diamonds, Joseph really was in funds, if indeed he had not been before.

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• According to the legend, enormous amounts of gold, silver and jewels, were brought to Northern New York by Joseph Bonaparte, who was the brother of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, he said.

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• “The cache was never found and rumors of its location have been part of local lore ever since King Joseph returned to France in 1838,” Mr. Glavin wrote in the book’s prologue. “To this day treasure hunters continue to search the caves of the state forest and the bottom of Lake Bonaparte.”

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