FREE HILLS-Local legendary blues musician and marble maker/player Bud Garrett is set to be featured on the next episode of “Where Stories Live,” a television series airing on WCTE PBS Channel 22.

The show will debut this Thursday night at 7 p.m., followed by subsequent encores.  It will also be made available on WCTE Central TN’s website online at wcte.org/productions/where-stories-live after the initial showing.

“On the next episode of ‘Where Stories Live,’ WCTE travels to the community of Free Hills, in Clay County, the former home of local legend Bud Garrett,” a promotional post for the show at Facebook.com/WCTETV said.  “Garrett, a talented musician and self-taught inventor, was a pillar of the community and his many influences on his hometown can still be felt to this day.

“His legacy and impact is carried forward by his children, who fondly look back on his works and achievements.”

Hosted by Avery Hutchins, the “Where Stories Live” series features unique and sometimes forgotten history of the Upper Cumberland conveyed through real life experiences and even local folklore.

“This new series has captured the rich history of our region through the eyes of the locals,” Hutchins said when the series debuted in 2022. “The stories you will see aren’t from the history books, but from local experiences, and the folklore that has been passed from one generation to the next.”

A news release published prior to the series’ onset explained “Where Stories Live,” would “take a unique, deep dive into the rich, historical homes and other structures from our region and the stories that live there.

“Each story will include a historic tour, a deeper look into the lives of the people, the historic relevance, and the significant events that may have occurred,” the information said.  “The documented or undocumented stories will be told by the locals in their own words or as they were experienced.”

Garrett, who ironically passed away playing marbles in 1987, received broad attention throughout the South during his heyday.

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 the game of Rolley Hole marbles 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 its inventor at the helm.

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

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

Garrett’s famous invention is now on display at the National Rolley Hole Marble Museum inside the Historic Clay County Courthouse in Celina, where it will remain as one of the feature exhibits of the collection.

About the

museum

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 showcases a treasure trove of informational materials, photo albums, Rolley Hole Tournament posters, artifacts, and audio-visual displays in the two east-side rooms of the courthouse.

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

About WCTE

WCTE Central TN PBS has served the Upper Cumberland 40+ years as the region’s premier storyteller and is the only television station in a 75-mile radius of Cookeville, TN, making it a strategic partner in education, health services, government, arts and music.

WCTE is a 501(c) 3, and is owned and operated by the Upper Cumberland Broadcast Council.  WCTE Central TN PBS is one of only 350 Public Broadcast Service (PBS) member stations nationwide.

For more information, visit wcte.org.