Duckpin Bowling (she said)
by Heather 30 Jan 2013Dear Reader,
It has been over a month since our last post. We enjoyed a superb holiday at home in Virginia, but stories of catching up with friends, movie nights, Caddy Shack Trivia, cookie decorating parties and lots of dinner parties don’t make very interesting posts. We have not forgotten you; rather we wanted share only the aspects of our wanderings with broader interest. As you will see here, great fun and interesting things await discovery just outside your front door.
Shenandoah Bowling Lanes
While home for the holidays, some friends invited us to go Duckpin bowling at Shenandoah Bowling Lanes, the oldest bowling alley in Virginia. Duckpin bowling in Mt. Jackson? Didn’t Duckpins go out with the 1960’s? We had no idea! So we headed into town and spent a fun evening with our friends Debbie and Joe, along with their two sons, at the lanes. As it turns out, we experienced not only a fun evening, but also a history lesson and an engineering tour.
Duckpin bowling differs from ‘regular’ bowling in several ways. First, the bowling balls are all a uniform size and weight, more like an oversized grapefruit than a the soccer-size ball familiar to most of us. There are no holes, so there is no need to spend ages trying find a rental ball with the proper weight and finger holes. The pins are shorter, smaller, and lighter, although they are deployed in the familiar 10-pin pyramid pattern. Because of their diminutive size, a strike is much more difficult to achieve, and participants roll the ball three times per frame.
Following a family pattern (snowboard racing, Monopoly night and PacMan tournaments), competition was fierce. As a newbie, I did not excel at this game. However, I did have a lot of fun and would be delighted to play again. I plan to score much better next time!
I found myself fascinated with the space-age decor of the alley. Located in rural Virginia, this futuristic bowling alley must have raised eyebrows when it first opened. Today, the alley retains nearly all the original equipment, from its 8″ rock maple slab floors to the vintage Coca-Cola advertisements on the walls. The automated machinery operating the lanes went in in 1958 — one of the newer additions to the alley.
As the evening wound down, the engineer and physicists in the group grew more and more curious about the system running the lanes. The owner kindly showed us the ‘backstage’ of the facilities. One can still see the old benches where the teenage boys who set the pins would sit, along with many of their names carved into the walls. The lovingly maintained, 50-year-old machinery reminded us of an era where solidly built things lived and thrived for decades. No need for upgrades or firmware updates, we saw only fine American workmanship and innovation.
A fine history lesson, several fun games and an engineering tour later, we departed the Shenandoah Bowling Lanes. I can’t believe we didn’t know such a fun place was so close. Thanks to our friends for introducing us to Duck Pin Bowling! Sometimes it takes fresh perspective to point out fun to be had right under your nose.
