Augusta, Georgia: Pexcho's American Dime Museum

Dick Horne is not affiliated with this museum. None of Horne's artwork is on display here. Some of the displays are copies of Horne's work, which were done without his knowledge. Do not be fooled by cheap imitations.

The items in Pexcho's Dime Museum are interesting to look at and quite varied. The best part of the visit is the personal tour. The proprietor tells the best stories about the items. Don't be put off by the exterior appearance -- inside is a strange assortment of stuff you won't be seeing anywhere else anywhere soon.

Peter Excho starts the tour of his American Dime Museum with a great history lesson about dime museums (their place in history up to and including his). You then walk around and look and read and take pictures.

At the end, he takes you back through and shows you everything you missed. Be sure to look for the brothel chairs and the pepperoni weasel. It's a blast, and everyone needs to go support the American Dime Museum.

It's on Florida Blvd, by the old Broadmoor Movie Theater.

At the (now closed) American Dime Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, owner Dick Horne would introduce me as his grandfather. Now I've moved to Baton Rouge and opened my own, small, period-perfect, mid-1800s dime museum. Dick sent us one of my favorite pieces, the mummified cat.

We have a collection of over 300 pieces: shrunken heads, severed heads, a two-headed mummy from Peru, a live, rat-eating frog. Our reading fish just died, and it's been a sad few weeks, but we are searching for new one.

We also have a full coffee bar and state-of-the-art tattoo parlor, and are constantly acquiring new pieces for the museum.