JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
If you've ever scavenged the banks of rivers or creeks for treasures, you have gone mudlarking. Buffy Gorrilla joins a group of mudlarkers to see what's hiding by a Philadelphia creek.
BUFFY GORRILLA: The feels-like temperature is 6 degrees Fahrenheit in northeast Philadelphia. A bundled up group gathers and bounces around to keep warm.
JAYDEN DAILY: I just got a random text and said - she said that we were booked for mudlarking.
GORRILLA: The text was from Jayden Daily's grandmother. He had to Google mudlarking, but now here they are, ready to try it.
DAILY: I think it would be really fun. I want to find a marble.
GORRILLA: The Glen Foerd Mansion sits beside the frozen confluence of the Poquessing Creek and the Delaware River. On a short walk to pick up tools, artist Cory Kram explains what makes this creekside spot perfect for mudlarking.
CORY KRAM: The mansion residents from long ago used to discard their trash into the creek. They used it as a dump site. So now as the tide goes in and out, lots of artifacts are uncovered, and we're going to be hunting for treasures.
GORRILLA: Kram has spent hours mudlarking here. Her best finds are on display to the public inside the mansion.
KRAM: Oh, definitely the marbles and the bottle stoppers, little figurine pieces, like, of a dog.
GORRILLA: Lowering her scarf, Kram says wintertime is the best time of year for mudlarking.
KRAM: Surprisingly, because everything's out in the open, there's not a lot of greenery. You can see everything better.
Be really careful with the ice and broken glass, everyone.
GORRILLA: The group fans out on the rocky creek bed. All eyes are peeled for a memento. Everyone knows Jayden Daily wants a marble. Andrew Davis spots some bonfire glass.
ANDREW DAVIS: A melted piece of a glass bottle - it's very flattened and sort of Salvador Dali-looking.
GORRILLA: He's also found amber pieces of old glass Clorox bottles. It was a refreshing reminder of life before plastic. And the group is keeping it that way by picking up litter as they scavenge. Suddenly, there was a commotion.
DAVIS: Come over here.
KRAM: Wait a minute. All right. What have we got here?
GORRILLA: Davis and Kram had found something. Davis calls to Daily.
KRAM: It's stuck. It's like a trade-off of wintertime. It's like - oh, there you go. You got it.
DAVIS: (Laughter).
KRAM: Awesome. Oh, my gosh, I can't believe we already found one.
GORRILLA: Davis and Kram hand the shiny green marble to Daily.
DAILY: I didn't find it, but I got a marble.
GORRILLA: Daily grins at the find, hanging onto it. But he wants to get back to unearthing a bottle that caught his eye. For NPR News, I'm Buffy Gorrilla in Philadelphia.
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