Remember when you were a child and played with marbles? How about when you see a marble, have you ever stopped to think about where they came from?

Well, marbles have existed since 3,000 B.C. in Egypt. Marbles during this time were made from the knucklebones of dogs and sheep. On the Greek Island of Grete Minosan, children played marbles with highly polished jasper and agate as early as 1,435 B.C. The polished white agates, marmarose, were called marbles, and this came from the Greek. Marbles in later years were made from clay and glass.

Louisiana Treasure’s Museum has a collection of marbles from the late 1800s that came from towns that were once located in St. John Parish. These towns were known as Ruddock, Napton and Frenier. The collections are on display at the museum located at 10290 Highway 22 West in Ponchatoula. For more information, call me at 225-294-8352 for hours of operation or tours.

Wayne Norwood is a lieutenant with the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Department and owner and operator of the Louisiana Treasures Museum located at 10290 Highway 22, West Pontchatoula.