RolleyHoleMan

Hey Folks, after 3 years I finally found the full song "Rolley Hole Man" on an unopened cassette in the archives. I was trying to move a box that was above my head, and since it had some weight to it I just popped the lid, felt around, and pulled out the first thing I could get a grip on. It was a sealed copy of this tape, followed by over 20 others. Here is the link: Rolley Hole Man

Now the thing about holes is no matter how you get them, it’s not to everyone’s preference. Some holes have more wiggle room and different depths from yard to yard. What I was taught was wet the area you want a hole, and push your marble into it until it’s half way in. From there you can smooth down the sharp edge made. A fresh hole may make it harder to knock a marble out of. Once the edges are worn it’s a bit better. Depth can of course cause issues as well. But as Bobby would say, it’s as fair to one as it is to the other.

So yes, a player can make a hole and decide to “lay” in that hole as defense. This has mixed results since players are usually darn good at knocking those marbles back out of the hole. Staying in the hole is also dangerous because if a player is for that hole, they can lightly hit the marble defending the hole, and lean their marble against it, making that hole. Once they lean against and “make” that hole, they’ll usually blast the opponents marble out of the hole. Pt2 of that. You could hit the marble defending the hole, and ride up to the next hole. This will give you another shot letting you get even closer to your desired hole. This is why players defending a hole are more likely to be a couple feet away. It reduces the risk of giving an advantage and extra turn if the marble is hit. About spanning, you do not have to shoot. The “span” is a hands length in a circle around your marble. Anywhere in that circle you can place your marble without shooting. The key rings are a great idea. I might have to start using that one when teaching Rolley Hole in a couple weeks. That would be better than string loops and better than quarters. Hopefully that wasn’t confusing. I’ll also point out that the term “lay” is used usually when a player decides to not take a turn. As in they’ll say “I’ll lay”. Another thing is the shooting order. When you lay, you are not giving the next turn to your teammate, you are giving it to your opponent. Now different yards might have different orders, but at standing stone is: A1 B1 A2 B2 Some places do: A1 A2 B1 B2 But when I talk about rules and whatnot, I only talk about Standing Stone since it is a “standardized” tournament.

I’m the newest ranger for the Cumberland trail. My role so far is mostly trail building and folklife. During my off time I work on this channel and have a ton of videos on a posting schedule to keep a steady stream. Some videos I’ve posted, like the Dumas Walker interviews, I’m already working on making into a longer length and higher quality. Seems as I make and post things, I learn to make them better. Some of these videos are not just good, but they’re teaching me things I didn’t know, or had long suspected. For instance marble size was reduced according to one of the sources, which finally confirmed it. Another interview also talks about two players having very similar looking marbles but of slightly different sizes. One of the players thought it would be funny to sneakily swap marbles, and both players started missing shots and wondering what was wrong. Bobby taught me a lot about marbles and it all came from these interviews, all of which are stored here at the CT and will be on the channel. No one can ever replace Bobby, but the best we can do is save and share what he did.

Hey folks, here is something related to Rolley Hole to keep an eye on. Here at the Cumberland Trail we have the lifelong work of Bobby Fulcher who is the father of the tournament at Standing Stone. What I’ve done is create a YouTube channel where I will be uploading the recorded interviews he has with folks for the Tennessee state parks folklife project. This will cover many amazing things, but starting out (since I have photos of these folks for the video), I am posting interviews with legendary marble player Dumas Walker (made famous by the Kentucky Headhunters song of the same name).Next on the list is Bud Garret, who was a famous marble maker who gave us the way we make marbles today. https://m.youtube.com/@JPWCTA I don’t know how often I’ll post on there since each video takes a long time to make. I first find the audio cd, heavily edit to remove the sound of the tape machine and tape hiss, then convert it to a video format. I then edit the video where the only visual is a photo of the person being interviewed. From there I post it. Each step takes a very long time unfortunately, and I do this on my own time after work. So far I’ve heard many amazing bits of Rolley Hole lore from folks who were there. It really helps paint a full picture of the last 100 or so years of Rolley Hole. I will warn you all though, this is Tennessee/Kentucky dialect and can be hard to understand. I’ve got a bit of an accent myself so I can understand these videos well, but folks talking to me often have no idea what I’m saying. So be warned.

They’re very hard to find outside the area, but a few of the marble makers sell online on Etsy and I’ve done both eBay and Etsy. The market is pretty though so most just sell in person at the event. There are always marbles for sale in the Standing Stone State Park gift shop though. Typically these are more polished and pretty. Players all have different needs when it comes to finish, with some preferring a slick marble that slips from the hand with ease, while other want a gritty marble that gives more grip. So you’ll have to find what size you like, and what finish works best. I play with one that’s maybe 100 grit, and polish them up to 6000. Those 6000 ones are like glass.

As a good side note here, the folks never would call me a marble player. They know I’m plain no good. But they would openly call me a marble maker. Some folks who want a marble are picky. I swear they can feel a thousandth of an inch. Those folks know by holding a marble if it’ll be any good for them.

Oh man, now that’s the question right there. When I started asking this question I was usually told “about a quarter inch”. What it comes down to is the preference of the player. You’ll find that players with more meaty hands favor a smaller marble , and players with more slender hands will often have a larger marble to bridge the gaps. I went around measuring marbles when I could, and it ranged from .75 to .80, with legend Russell Collins playing with the .80. Personally I’m favoring .78 marbles. I made a bunch of .81 and .80, and I can’t really play with them. I keep a bag of 10 marbles in my pocket at all times and keep larger ones since folks like to see them, but my designated shooter is .78 I think. Now for the time being I’m leaving out the “youth” marbles for teaching children. Usually those are more in line with the regulations for ringer marbles since those kids play both. For ringer the standard size is 5/8”.

I should have read it a little better, I didn’t realize it was compacted. When I teach it indoors I have a massive room that lets me do the full size yard. What we use indoors for the holes are quarters, which is pain but what the marble players use. As for the camping spots, Standing Stones campgrounds will be closed for renovations unfortunately. There’s a camper campground outside the park that isn’t all that bad, ans about an hour away is Rock Island State park which has wonderful campgrounds (I used to work there and maintain them, so I can say with certainty they’re some of the best). I plan on being at the next Rolley Hole to spread marbles a bit.

Also here is a link to a newly posted Rolley hole video I digitized. It has a snippet of “Rolley Hole Man”. So far this is the only recording of it I know of. It’s one of those songs that’s stuck in my head a good bit. Maybe it’s the obsession with marbles, but it’s one good tune. As a fun side note, I’ve got marbles going at Cumberland Mountain State Park. So far signups and general interest are promising.

The loops are a pretty cool idea. I’m going to try that method when teaching folks to play on carpet. The 4” is decent for giving folks an idea, but I’d go with a lot smaller since the original holes are the size of a marble. That’s just my personal preference though.

Figured I’d add something here Rolley Hole related. I may need to start a thread when I scan in some of these documents, and believe me there’s a lot. Rolley Hole is an important piece of folklife and has endless lore, but I finally found something after years of searching. When the American team went to face the British at the Tinsley Green marbles tournament, Bobby Fulcher wrote a song to the tune of Johnny Hortons “battle of New Orleans”. The song itself is lost, with only a snippet remaining in an old news broadcast (which I will digitize when I get the parts for my equipment). In the files here, I found a couple lyric sheets. We don’t know which was used, but with a willing musician it can be remade. For many years this song dominated the local airwaves until it slowly faded away. Many old timers have asked to hear this song again.

As time has gone on I’m still making marbles, though time is limited and I’m always rushing around. I’ve been busy promoting Rolley Hole across the state and have a list of folks wanting marbles. They know my schedule and know it’ll take a while. Hopefully they’re done by September. It’s been maybe a month since I’ve worked on any marbles.

That’s a pretty good write up. Where did you find your info? I’m really impressed with it. As part of my job now I have access to the largest collection of Rolley Hole info ever collected, so someday I’ll start posting some really good stuff again. Right now folks are always coming by work to ask about Rolley Hole. The popularity has significantly risen in the last couple years, however the father of the tournament at Standing Stone said that’s how it is. Rolley Hole popularity is like the tide, it comes in and goes out again, but it’s never gone. It has something special tied up into it that makes it endure when other crafts have gone. Every year there’s more marble makers, younger folks playing, and more people looking to see what it’s all about. “Predicting the future of Rolley Hole is like predicting the weather, and only a fool would do either one” - Bobby Fulcher Keep on doing what you’re doing. Now is a good time for it.

I have been at my new park since May 8th or so (kinda forgot). Compared to my last park, this place is a resort with many on site amenities like 3 restaurants, tons of boat ramps (13k acre lake), Nature Center, etc. Out here I have converted the abandoned pool area to the "Tims Ford Marbles Superdome" since the pool is no longer there. So far no one has attended any marbles programs including Cherokee Marbles. Compared to Standing Stone, it's been extremely busy. This park is better setup for interpretation (by having a Nature Center), and has a more attractive selection of activities and campgrounds that really bring the people in. Out here I have a higher-position and much more responsibility between making programs, coordinating staff, doing projects, and running camps. It's been busy, and I still do some mild spreading of Rolley Hole. I have been loaning out the "noodling for catfish" book for the Rolley Hole chapter. Out here my main strategy is to have a selection of colorful and interesting marbles to really get the attention. Out here, the bag of white marbles just doesn't do it.

Well folks, I made it to my new park. Phone service is awful so I can’t get the photo of my last marble to post. It’s showing up but giving an error so maybe it’ll work maybe it won’t. It’s a Tennessee Square marble made from material a former manager of the park had. If he wants another marble this one is reserved for him. He told me he didn’t play marbles but he held marbles like he did, and sized them by holding them in the shooting position. Lots of folks say they don’t play but they’re tricky. I had a guy tell me that and he was making 10ft shots. The game has gotten more hardcore and intense. The old folks say the younger crowd make much farther distance and powerful shots than they did. The size of the marble has supposedly gotten smaller too, though I’ve measured marbles and don’t know about this. I’ll try to make a new thread sometime for marbels updates. In a couple weeks I’ll try to get my replacement addicted to marbles. It’s tricky business. I tell people it’s a lot like meth. You see people doing it and how their lives are affected and you say “not for me”. Then you get into it and you’re hooked like the rest. Bad example since they say if you’re into marbles hardcore you won’t be doing drugs.

I know exactly where it is (or was). My boss had a sealed copy of it on cassette on his desk. I just didn’t have a way to play it and he didn’t want it tore up. Some day I’ll show up with all the stuff to do it and beg. It’s tough business. You can scan a photo or negative with no risk. Playing a tape can destroy it. we always joked about learning how to play instruments and remaking songs, along with a version of “the devil went down to Georgia” but instead of a fiddle match it would be a Rolley Hole game with the prize being a solid gold marble. We never got far with it, but the joke was at the end the player would refuse the marble and say it’s no good for Rolley Hole.

Here’s some fun. I finally got though the book I was reading about all sorts of odds and ends. It covers things like catfish noodling, cock fighting, moonshine, hunting with dogs, southern cooking, and in the very last chapter it covers Rolley Hole. It had some great info though the writing style does make it seem some things are a bit exaggerated. Knowing the people in the book, it’s interesting and the author does a great job of describing some of these guys. Here’s some photos though the only way to have at it properly is to order the book. It’s got some age on it and many of the folks in the book are no longer alive and there’s been some change up in odds and ends. it also has the lyrics for a song I’ve heard of about Rolley Hole but can’t find a recording. I believe it is “Rolley Hole Man” sang by the bandy creek boys.

Not gotten around to more marbles with only a week left to do so. Not sure if I will as I haven’t been motivated. I did work on the marble making setup and installed some pieces of felt on the arbor to hopefully limit the chatter the setup makes. I also have looked over my mobile setup and am debating on bringing it. With the limited material and a new park I probably won’t do any more marble stuff until September. I’ll still try to update the thread or start another thread for this up coming 2024 Rolley Hole. Since I’m no longer at standing stone I won’t be getting much for updates. im still open to any Rolley Hole inquiries anyone may have. When working at other places and parks I’ve always kept up with Rolley Hole and working on marble related matters. In the next couple weeks I will be teaching some hostages (or students depending on how you look at it) in the ways of Rolley Hole. We will be going to a park with little opportunities to run away to civilization. I have marbles, documents, scoresheets, dirt, and stories all ready to go. There’s also newcomers who only know that at their state inservice there’s a man who will have marbles. Some are excited and some are afraid (as they should be). Since my time in parks this has been the first time anyone can remember that Rolley Hole has gotten much attention let alone obsession. As a job update, I haven’t heard back from either. At one when I gave my name, the park manager laughed and said she heard my name many times at inservices in regards to marbles. Either way I always have at least 20 of the finest Tennessee marbles in my pockets when I interview. Just in case. Fine marbles hand picked for the occasion.

No new marbles today but excellent Rolley Hole news! I got a call earlier from my sister asking for some Rolley Hole information such as rules, documents, info,etc. She has been spreading the word of Rolley Hole. She has people wishing to attend Rolley Hole who want to really study it beforehand to better understand what’s going on. It’s a pretty good idea too. Most guests who aren’t local (and even many locals) have no idea what’s really going on. They may hang around the marble yard for a moment, but without enough interp people it can be hard to really help people understand the game. When the tournament is going on I’m able to give play by play action (better when I personally know the players). For example you can say Chris is wanting to make X shot, and when he makes the shot you say why he did it, and what it leads to. If the shot is missed, you can then go over the consequences as they happen. Believe me, it can be tense. Anyways it shows the game is growing and getting more interest. What all I do online is very limited without going to Rolley Hole. Best way to get in on it is to come on down/over/up to Rolley Hole and see what it’s all about!

Here’s the marble for today. It does have a crystal pit which causes a low spot in the marble though the rest is in pretty tight tolerance. This is a really interesting marble. It has yellow and white in it along with some neat structures and a deposit that looks like a bunch of small spheres. Sometime when I remember, I need to look more into ways to quiet this setup. The pully and shaft moves side to side causing a lot of chatter when the pulley smacks either side of the opening. Anyways, I was gifted a book called “noodling for flatheads” which is similar to an online book I found (and lost). The online book I’ve lost track of went over southern social games and activities popular with men and placed Rolley Hole between cockfighting and general store meetups. The book “noodling for flatheads” is similar in subject but it’s a series of essays covering niche activities that aren’t really well known to the general United States, or at least not in depth. I figured it would be best to go through the whole book, but Rolley Hole is one of the last chapters. So far it’s pretty well written while also being written in a fair way. I once read a paper published up north that was more along the lines of “we want to talk about these hicks, their marbles, and make them look dumb while doing it”. This book doesn’t seem to do that. A couple people have told me about the book and said it focused a bit on a particular player, but I’d have to read it for myself. The book was written (or I guess published) in 2001, with the main focus (according to the screenshot I’ll include) was the 1992 trip to England. A friend of mine said the description seemed “absolutely deranged” if you never heard of Rolley Hole. Keep in mind that 99% of the things online start with comparing it to pool or golf, then give the same general descriptions that can bore an interested person to tears. There’s not a lot of “original” takes on Rolley Hole to be found so I’m excited to see what it holds. Most articles repeat older articles and so on and so forth. New articles are the same and have no personal touch, and often seem written at a distance and by someone who’s entire Rolley Hole experience comes from a screen. That’s my long post for the night. With two job interviews coming up I might as well get it out of my system. Getting feedback from past interviews I’ve been told to stop talking about Rolley Hole in job interviews. Unfortunately I sure don’t have much else to talk about. It’s their choice to chose the marble man of standing stone for interviewing.

Finished another black/blue marble. Sure is a pretty one and it polished up very nice.

Using the Rolley Hole museum setup as reference, I took out a Dremel tool and cut some notches into my rubber wheel. Surprisingly it really did help and it seems it not only cuts faster, but allows the marble to be grabbed and spin more in every direction. I finished a pretty cool “pink” marble from material found in the Tennessee River. I installed new bushings in my grinder again and got it to chatter quite a bit less. Lowe’s advertised the bushings as oil impregnated but I don’t know, they didn’t seem to be greasy like they should have. I still drilled a hole in both of them to allow the oil wells on the grinder to work. With making marbles you’re fighting the grit from the cups and the stone grit from the marbles, so things wear out faster. One of the reasons we use belt drive gear is we put a ton of hours on equipment and it’s easier to repair grinders and replace motors instead of killing these new bench grinders that are $100 or more.

https://www.facebook.com/p/Rolley-Hole-Marble-Museum-61552774450255/ This is a link to their Facebook page where they post updates and general stuff going on there. They also cross post stuff from the other marbles groups in the area. It’s the best way to keep with the marble news. Right now everything is in the beginning stages. They have funding on the way from different grants and the Tennessee Arts Commission. Rolley Hole also received an award from the governor recently so it’s getting more recognition overall. This is the first time an event and not a person got an award. Many marble players were at the governors mansion for the award ceremony.

Here are some photos from the Rolley Hole museum in Celina. I was up there at a little restaurant and figured we might as well drive the courthouse. All the doors were wide open with no one around, and the door to the Rolley Hole section was open. Probably wasn’t supposed to be in there but oh well. This is the courthouse in the square of Celina, Tennessee where the marble museum is held. They did just get a bunch of funding and man, the building needs it. It’s a standard old town worn courthouse that has that feel of history. Heres a big photo of Bud over a table of marble making supplies. The case features many marbles of many materials, and there’s a ton of rock scraps and a small nodule for display. This is the rubber wheel on the grinder. Note the grooves cut into it to “bounce” and grip the marble. This is something I need to do to my wheel. One thing to note is this is a very large wheel, which appears to be to a longboard skateboard. Here is a trophy and some marbles from the late Russell Collins who recently passed away. No one was there to tell us what was what, but the small glass marble appears to be a marble for British marble, probably from when the team went over there and smashed the British. Heres a rough platinum record from the Kentucky Headhunters song “Dumus Walkers” A display of marbles. I would guess that due to the speckled marble that these are from Mr.Carr. He gives marbles away and also gives them to the kids marble club so they can sell them in order to fund their trip to New Jersey. Some of the marbles for sale. These are marbles used by champions in winning games of Rolley Hole. It was really cool to see the marbles played with by people I know, and some before my time. Sure wish it was possible to measure them. This is a book I was given today by Bobby Fulchers son. This is a marble made by Dumus Walker shown to me by one of the staff at the park. He’s pointing at a location where there was a sand pit he had someone remove, and then the marble was spun down. Not something I would have done. The marble now measures .74. I was able to show my marbles to some of the makers and players today and everyone is very very happy with how they look. More than anything they really liked the rough finish and talked about slick marbles causing many failed shots. Mr.Carr likes to give polished and that’s what’s for sale in the park gift shop. These are mostly for the tourists. One main takeaway from the marbles on display is they look like I made them, so it seems I’m doing alright. The material from this area is very distinct and it’s easy to tell when material comes from elsewhere. We also talked in great length about the struggle of demonstrating marble making to the general public. Interest is very low and the noise causes all marble demonstrations to quickly be shut down, moved, or both. My parents chimed in with how annoying and loud my machine is so tomorrow I’m off to Lowe’s to pick up some oil impregnated bronze bushings for the grinder. Standard bushings haven’t lasted me all that long.