{"id":313,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:32:50","latitude":31.602875199999999722422217018902301788330078125,"longitude":-94.654303499999997484337654896080493927001953125,"title":"The Gateway","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/b2b16d7b7958662379110972bdf3c1df.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":6,"creator":["Emily Smith"],"description":"In 2010, Charles Bright and other board members of The Charles and Lois Marie Bright Foundation began planning for the creation of “The Gateway” to honor those early Americans who traveled west on the El Camino Real to settle Texas, but also as a way to honor Charles Bright. Charles Bright was instrumental in revitalizing downtown Nacogdoches which included the restoration of his father’s grocery store that was originally located on the square.   [1 &amp; 2] <br />\r\n<br />\r\nThis poem by Karle Wilson Baker was the inspiration behind The Gateway.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nNacogdoches Speaks<br />\r\n<br />\r\nI was The Gateway. Here they came, and passed,<br />\r\nThe homespun centaurs with their arms of steel<br />\r\nAnd taut heart-strings: wild wills, who thought to deal<br />\r\nBare-handed with jade Fortune, tracked at last<br />\r\nOut of her silken lairs into the vast<br />\r\nOf a Man’s world. They passed, but still I feel<br />\r\nThe dint of hoof, the print of booted heel,<br />\r\nLike prick of spurs--the shadows that they cast.<br />\r\nI do not vaunt their valors, or their crimes:<br />\r\nI tell my secrets only to some lover,<br />\r\nSome taster of spilled wine and scattered musk.<br />\r\nBut I have not forgotten; and sometimes,<br />\r\nThe things that I remember rise, and hover.<br />\r\nA sharper perfume in some April dusk. [3]<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe Gateway stands in downtown Nacogdoches in front of the Charles Bright Visitor Center. Texan artist Michael Boyett (1943-2015) sculpted the statue. The Charles and Lois Marie Bright Foundation sponsored The Gateway, and the dedication was in February of 2013. [4]<br />","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"An American family leaving their home and traveling down the El Camino Real de los Tejas with their dog, gun, and what would fit on their horse. They left everything they have ever known for a promise of land and a new beginning in Texas.","website":"Sculptor Michael Boyett 's website, <a href=\"http://www.michaelboyettbronzes.us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http://www.michaelboyettbronzes.us/</a>; <a href=\"https://nacstatuetour.weebly.com/\">https://nacstatuetour.weebly.com/</a>","related_resources":["[1] https://www.ktre.com/story/23256721/n/","[2] http://www.pictures-of-historic-nacogdoches.com/026gateway.html","[3] https://mypoeticside.com/show-classic-poem-34571","[4] http://www.pictures-of-historic-nacogdoches.com/026gateway.html"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/b2b16d7b7958662379110972bdf3c1df.jpg":{"id":2366,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Gateway","description":"A mother is holding on tightly to her newborn as they look to settle on uncharted territory. ","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/b2b16d7b7958662379110972bdf3c1df.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/ad5de0a7b79d8e8fb2d19918c9945046.jpg":{"id":2340,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Gateway","description":"Traveling along the El Camino Real de los Tejas to the unknown. ","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/ad5de0a7b79d8e8fb2d19918c9945046.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/70da49e99dc87c6b39f6164f7ee2038f.jpg":{"id":2341,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Gateway","description":"Texas or bust on the El Camino Real de los Tejas. ","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/70da49e99dc87c6b39f6164f7ee2038f.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/3fe1ad2defbcec290a38cd535d16e7dc.jpg":{"id":2342,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Gateway","description":"Plaque on The Gateway statue.","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/3fe1ad2defbcec290a38cd535d16e7dc.jpg"}}}