As I've mentioned before, Nacogdoches is blessed with many fine sculptures on public display. This bronze of Gil Y'Barbo is in the downtown plaza and pays tribute to the founder of this oldest town in Texas. Antonio Gil Y'Barbo was a prominent Spanish trader who emerged as the leader of a group of settlers to this area in 1779. He was named Lt. Governor of the new town and established the rules and laws under which the city was governed. He laid out streets with the intersecting El Camino Real and El Calle del Norte (both of which exist today) as his central point. On the main thoroughfare he built a stone house for use in his trading business. The house, or Old Stone Fort as it is called today, became a gateway from the United States to the vast Texas frontier.
The sculpture is located at the Nacogdoches Visitors Center on Main Street (the site of El Camino Real) about one block from North Street (El Calle del Norte). Direct descendants of Y'Barbo still reside in this area.
NOTE: I've been ill in addition to being inundated with work. I hope to resume visiting my blogger friends very soon.
7 comments:
From the side he looks like a bit of a dandy but, from the front he looks very rugged.
That is quite a nice looking sculpture.
I hope you are feeling better, so many folks down with a virus right now.
sorry you've not been well! hope that'll change soon!
a very neat sculpture and great history on that founder.
the detail on the statue is beautiful, every crease, every button..
Nice statue. I hope you feel better soon. And stay warm. I'm hoping you are getting the same sunshine we got here today in Arkansas. It was wonderful!!
Nice sculpture.
Hope you are now feeling much better, Kathy. And to have work while your ill is not much fun at all!
I didn't realize Nacogdoches is the oldest town in Texas. I guess Antonio Gil Y'Barbo had a good idea!
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