Against basement walls of lavender and royal purple, images of ancient Egyptians, Queen Elizabeth I, and a young, stoned Arnold Schwarzenegger greet visitors to the new History of Cannabis Museum.

“It’s all about taking you on a journey,” says Marché Walker, the events director for Grow Club D.C., a membership-based service that installs and consults about marijuana growing equipment, funds and runs the museum. They say it is the first of its kind on the East Coast.

After descending a bright green staircase and entering through a bud-decorated door, the journey begins in 8000 BCE in what is now Taiwan, where excavators discovered the use of hemp product. It swings through China and India and into Egypt, pointing out how these ancient civilizations incorporated weed in their daily lives.

The message is clear—Pharaohs: They’re just like us!

Walker leads us to what she calls the “wow room,” which is where visitors learn that U.S. President James Monroe was known to smoke hashish and George Washington cultivated the plant on his land, a fact Walker says is conveniently left out of Mount Vernon tours.

There’s also a nook that Walker and museum employee Steven Dermer call the “medical room,” which is where the drug’s healing properties are explained. That’s where you can see a mug shot of Samuel Caldwell, the first marijuana seller arrested and convicted under U.S. federal law, and learn about the time Richard Nixon, as vice president, unwittingly smuggled three pounds of weed through airport security for Louis Armstrong.

Next we head to the celebrity room, full of photos of Cheech and Chong, Marilyn Monroe, and the patron saint of weed, Bob Marley. “Where’s Snoop Dogg?” our photographer asks, pointing out what would be a serious oversight. But the rapper-turned-chronic entrepreneur is on the wall, with a blunt in his hand as plumes of smoke cover part of his face.

The History of Cannabis Museum’s grand opening is, of course, today. They’ll cut the ribbon at 11:30 a.m. and hand out goodie bags with stickers as Reefer Madness plays on loop. After that, the museum will be free to Grow Club D.C. members and will charge a fee to non-members (they’re still figuring out exactly what it will be, but the museum is open to all today).

“We wanted it to be in D.C. because it’s the capital,” says Walker. The dream is that after checking out, say, the Air and Space Museum, folks will head north to get the skinny on smoking. They want to switch out the exhibits every three months to keep things fresh.

Dermer says that the museum also plans to eventually host yoga events, canna-massages, and Puff and Paint sessions.

Grow Club rents the museum space, a basement on Park Road NW in Columbia Heights. It’s right next to a head shop that almost seems like a museum gift shop, but the two spaces are not affiliated.

“I think it’s great—people should be more informed,” says Diana Alvarex, the co-owner of the neighboring Green Room Smoke Shop. “We can both win. A lot of our customers have been asking ‘What’s going on here?'” And it can go both ways. People newly aware that Martha Stewart can roll a joint might venture in to buy some papers of their own.

But while the museum is stocked with images of iconic tokers and zoomed-in pictures of dank nug, one thing is surprisingly absent.

“There is no cannabis here,” says Dermer. (Pot clubs and marijuana smoking in D.C. businesses are both illegal under local law.) “You come in here to get some knowledge.”

The History of Cannabis Museum is one of the rare places in D.C. that does not, even a little, smell like weed.

The History of Cannabis Museum is located on 1426 Park Road NW. Hours are Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.