The Riverbed Toyshop

Loamy riverbeds provide an unlikely beginning for a heritage game of marbles.

Article I wrote following fieldwork. / “Master marble maker Paul Davis spends a lot of time on the waters that surround his southern Kentucky home—scanning creek ripples, listening to brooks, watching the subtle movements of lakes, and noting the cycles and flows of rivers. He casts his fishing line for small-mouth bass when the waters are high, and when they're low, he combs the shoals for marble-worthy flint rock. We catch him while the river is low and the days are long enough to harvest and grind a marble shooter and play a few matches of the century-old game, Rolley Hole…” [Continue reading on MOOWON]

Standing Stone Lake. For over a century, the flint lined waters along the Tennessee and Kentucky borders have provided the ideal material for this distinctive game of marbles. (Photo courtesy of Standing Stone State Park)