Bud Garrett’s marble machine now on display at Rolley Hole Museum

CELINA-A piece of Clay County history has made its way back home.

Clay County native Bud Garrett’s marble-making machine was delivered to the National Rolley Hole Marble Museum here at the Historic Clay County Courthouse last week, where it will remain on display as one of the feature exhibits of the collection.

After residing on loan in Nashville, representatives from the Tennessee State Museum brought the one-of-a-kind invention home to serve as a highlight to a wide array of cultural artifacts housed here, which all pertain to the local three-hole marble folk game combining elements of golf, croquet, and billiards.

The museum was established last year and, it is located in the two east-side rooms of the courthouse.

Along with many of Garrett’s marbles, the treasure trove contains informational materials, photo albums, Rolley Hole Tournament posters, artifacts, and audio-visual displays.

The museum planning and design was funded by the Tennessee Arts Commission, and renowned museum designer Rusty Summerville served as the design consultant.

Garrett, who ironically passed away playing marbles in 1987, received broad attention throughout the South during his heyday, because not only was he a marble maker and player—he was also a blues musician.

While on music tours and at festivals performing his music and demonstrating flint marble-making on his machine constructed from an assemblage of spare auto parts, Garrett’s following grew beyond the Tennessee Upper Cumberland/Southern Kentucky region where Rolley Hole still remains king.

And a large part of the legacy he built was due to his ingenuity when it came to fashioning marbles, a craft he learned from his father—a tobacco farmer who took a piece of flint with him to work every day and filed away at it until it became round, before he placed it in a creek to allow the water to turn the marble until it became smooth.

This process could take years to complete, which led to the younger Garrett inventing his now-famous marble machine in the late 1940s.

Powered by an electric motor, the homemade apparatus could churn out marbles in minutes with it’s inventor at the helm.

But it wasn’t just about production, as the Bud Garrett flint marble became sought after due to it’s durability and they all came with a lifetime guarantee from their maker.

Garrett also established his own marble yard in the Free Hill Community at his home, where he died at the age of 71.

For more information about Garrett and Rolley Hole, visit claycountycourthousetn.com/the-game and follow the Rolley Hole Marble Museum Facebook page.

Artifacts or other materials can also be donated or loaned to the museum for display and educational purposes.

Those interested in doing so should contact Historic Clay County Courthouse Curator Thomas Waston at [email protected] or 931-243-3464.

The National Rolley Hole Marbles Museum is open when the courthouse is accessible during community events and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.

MARBLE MUSEUM-The National Rolley Hole Marble Museum features informational materials, photo albums, Rolley Hole Tournament posters, artifacts, and audio-visual displays, all in addition to the recently added Bud Garrett marble-making machine. (photo courtesy claycountycourthousetn.com)