Howard Finster turned a variety of objects, including a novelty coffee cup and his own hand-carved pencil holder, into “invention exhibits” that demonstrated the achievements of mankind. According to Finster, “The inventors don’t get enough recognition…. To represent them, I’m trying to collect at least one of every invention in the world.” Finster originally put these found-object displays on view at his Exhibit House, a small building in the yard of his home in Trion, Georgia. He continued the project after moving to Pennville in 1960 and eventually dubbed it Paradise Garden after a 1975 Esquire magazine article called it a “Garden of Paradise”.