(Featured image: Peter Excho in the center with his children and John “Red” Stuart, the world’s oldest sword swallower)
Peter Excho called it the biggest honor his Pexcho’s American Dime Museum has ever received.
On Dec. 9, The Georgia Business Journal named the Augusta museum of oddities and curiosities as the top museum in the state of Georgia.
“Last year, we were rated No. 1 in our region, and Atlanta is our region,” said Excho, who opened the museum at 216 Sixth St. in 2018. “This is absolutely amazing. I even called my mom and told her to put it on her fridge. That’s a refrigerator thing.”
The Dime Museum concepts dates back to the 1840s when showman P.T. Barnum opened his American Museum in New York. It cost patrons a dime to enter; hence the name “dime museum.”
It was a form of entertainment for the masses, and many of them believed oddities such as mermaid skeletons were real.
The first weekend of March 2024, Excho will unveil his latest exhibit – a T-Rex, with two heads. The skeleton is 40-feet long and towers over the space. He plans two days of sideshow acts to celebrate the grand opening.
“The biggest names in sideshows will be here,” he said.
The Lizardman, Short E. Dangerously and John “Red” Stuart, who is the oldest sword swallower and holds multiple Guinness Book of World Records. Stuart lives in the Augusta area and sometimes does his act for those visiting the site.
The museum’s look since it opened has changed. Exhibit space has flipflopped with theater space. The exhibits are housed in more than 2,800 square feet now as opposed to 1,200 when the museum first opened. The theater seats 127 instead of 72 when it first opened.
But the pandemic took a toll on the museum, Excho said.
He started working in the film industry to keep the museum alive.
“I work for Hollywood now,” he said. “The movies killed us (dime museums) in the 1920s but saved the last American dime museum.”
Gone is the coffee shop another byproduct of the pandemic although he’d like to revamp it.
The museum is open by appointment only, and when Excho isn’t in town, his 18-year-old son carries on the tours in his stead. The museum is the top-rated thing to do in Augusta at the Trip Advisor website, and it has been named a Traveler’s Choice in 2023.
Some visitors come to the area with the museum in mind. Excho said recent visitors were from The Netherlands.
Foot traffic is slowly coming back.
He recently partnered with Augusta Adventures Tours and Events for a spooky holiday tour that included entry into the museum.
The theater was more vibrant prior to the pandemic with events happening on a regular basis, but many of the sideshow performers had to find another line of work during the pandemic, he said. Some have kept their day jobs and perform rarely now.
Pexcho’s American Dime Museum has a website, but reservations must be made over the phone at (706) 925-6526.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for 35 years. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
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