Bead-Nacogdoches Blue White Glass TB

I maintain records on my trackables. For a US-based trackable, this one is unusual for its longevity and movement. In the six-year period, 2010-19, the owner released a total of 3,793 trackables in the United States (96%) and Europe (4%). This trackable is one of the 5% of the total that circulated for at least 5 years and had been moved at least 25 times. That is a target rate of at least five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days. The average drop rate of my trackables in the US is 124 days, in Europe it is 71 days. As of 18-Mar-24 this trackable had survived for 8.7 years and had been moved by 35 cachers, for an average drop every 91 days, or 4.0 drops per year. Please keep it moving, then drop it in a safe place!

No permission is needed to leave the U.S. While in the U.S., please drop it at an event, in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban, non-premium cache. Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean and dry, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items. Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

This is one of a series of large beads obtained from different places and converted into travel bugs.  They are named for Texas towns with interesting names or histories.

Local promotional literature from Nacogdoches touts it as "the oldest town in Texas."  Evidence of settlement at the same site dates back to 10,000 years ago.  It is near or on the site of Nevantin, the primary village of the Nacogdoche tribe of Caddo Indians.  It remained a Caddo Indian settlement until the early 19th century.  

In 1716 Spain established a mission there.  That was the first European construction in the area.  The "town" of Nacogdoches got started after the Spaniards decided that the French were no longer a threat and that maintaining the mission was too costly.  So, in 1772, they ordered all settlers in the area to move to San Antonio.  Some were eager to escape the wilderness, but others had to be forced from their homes by soldiers.

Colonel Antonio Gil Y'Barbo, a prominent Spanish trader, emerged as the leader of the settlers, and in the spring of 1779, he led a group back to Nacogdoches.  Later that summer, Nacogdoches received designation from Spain as a pueblo, or town, thereby making it the first "town" in Texas.   

The city has been under more flags than the state of Texas, claiming nine flags.  In addition to the Six Flags of Texas, it also flew under the flags of the Magee-Gutierrez Republic, the Long Republic, and the Fredonian Rebellion.  People from the United States began moving to settle in Nacogdoches in 1820 and Texas' first English-language newspaper was published there.  However, the first newspaper published, in the 1700s, was in Spanish.