THOMASVILLE, Ga. (WTXL) — In Thomasville, a 128-year-old bowling alley still lets visitors roll back in time, complete with wooden lanes, hand-set pins, and rich local history.
- The O.C. Ewart Bowling Alley, built in 1896, is the oldest still-functioning single-lane bowling alley in the U.S.
- It was built by winter visitor Oliver Cowan Ewart as part of his Victorian estate and personal gym.
- Visitors today can still bowl there using smaller duckpins—and even set the pins themselves.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
In Thomasville, history isn't just something you read about, it's something you can roll a strike in.
I'm taking you inside the country's oldest single-lane bowling alley, still open and still rolling.
This isn't just any bowling alley, it's the oldest single-lane, detached bowling alley still standing and working in the U.S.
And you can find it right inside the Thomasville History Center.
It was built by a man named Oliver Cowan Ewart, a banker from Ohio who spent his winters here.
I spoke with Ephraim Rotter, the curator at the History Center, about what made Ewart build it in the first place.
"He was going through some things in his personal life. He had people in the 1890s experienced midlife crises and things like that, just like people do today. And he was experiencing some of that. And we like to think of the bowling alley as part of Ewart's midlife reshaping of himself during his trips," said Rotter.
Ephraim tells me bowling was actually a popular thing for wealthy people to do at home back then.
In the 1890s, bowling was booming, especially during what many call the "bowling craze."
It wasn't just a game, it was a trend that spread across towns all over the country.
"It was these traveling bowling businesses, because like I said, this craze was going on. And they would have all of the wood you would need to do a bowling lane. And they would set up a bowling lane in a vacant storefront for like two months, eight months, a year, two years. And then when business would dip down, they would pull up the bowling alley and they would move on to the next town," said Rotter.
I also met Mike Hammock and his wife, visiting the History Center from Tallahasee.
It was their first time seeing the alley and they told me it's unlike anything they've experienced before.
"The bowling alley is, uh, well, it feels... Despite being all wood, and the pins being smaller, and the balls being a little smaller, it feels surprisingly modern. It doesn't seem that different from a modern game of bowling. It would take a little bit of practice to get good at that, but I'm terrible at regular bowling, so it doesn't really matter," said Hammock.
You can check out the bowling alley by paying just $10 for admission to the History Center.
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