Ellenboro, West Virginia: Hillybilly Marble Maker Sam Hogue

We were on vacation and decided to visit Sam and his marbles. We are so glad that we did! He is very passionate about his creations. He talked all about his life working in a glass factory and his progression to creating these works of art.

Spent well over an hour here. Sam Hogue loves his craft and loves talking about it. Meeting him was the highlight of our week-long meandering around West Virginia.

When we arrived we caught Sam doing a little jig outside of his shop. He was friendly and generous and even gave us a tour on Sunday when he hadn't planned on working. It was a bit hard to hear soft spoken Sam over the blaring bluegrass music. He showed us buckets and buckets of his machine made marbles. Then he even accommodated us by hand-making some marbles for us. It was a fascinating tour and he even gave our kids some freebies! I highly recommend taking a detour for this one.

Hillbilly Marble studio and workshop is in his backyard, literally. Sammy gave us a full demonstration on his marble-making, using his handmade mini-marble workshop. He melted the glass and showed us the whole process for making the different shapes of colors inside the marbles.

There are marbles everywhere. There is even a little studio to buy some of his handmade marbles! We were there for at least an hour! We drove 2 hours out of our way to check this place out and it is was worth it!

What you need to put on the West Virginia page is Sam Hogue, the marble maker in Ellenboro. You can go into his shop and watch him dance to his hillbilly music and make his creations on the spot. You will want to buy one or two from his own little office next to his shop. My wife and I spent three hours there. It was a remarkable exhibition.