Ava Gardner Museum

In a previous life, before I entered the glamorous world of government accounting, I was an avid fan and scholar of the movies. For years I read every book I could possibly find about the golden age of Hollywood, the great films, and the great stars like Ava Gardner. I had no idea this museum was here, but I saw the sign on the Interstate and decided it was a good opportunity to stretch my legs. I’m so glad I did because this museum is a gem and does a tremendous job honoring the legacy of Ava Gardner. One would never expect such an excellent museum in a small town, but this museum would even impress people in Hollywood. There is nothing at all amateur here; the exhibits and storytelling are all top-​notch and very impressive. I enjoyed seeing many personal artifacts and costumes on display, along with an excellent film presentation to acquaint visitors with Ava Gardner’s story. If you are a film fan, you must stop here if you’re traveling down I-​95.

My Mom wanted to come to this museum, she was the fan and a Groupon for 4 brought the family along this past Friday. Small but interesting museum of old Hollywood and how it used to be. If you’re a real fan don’t forget to go down the street to visit her grave site!

The Ava Gardner Museum is a gem in Downtown Smithfield! While the museum is a must-​see for fans of Ava and classic films, it makes for an enjoyable visit even for someone who knows no more of Ava than her name. The museum boasts a large collection including movie posters, Ava’s personal clothing and movie costumes, and more personal things like china, home furnishings, jewelry, and the watch that she gave to Frank Sinatra. After you’ve visited the museum, you have a good sense of who Ava was, both as an actress and as a person. Don’t miss the introductory film about Ava, or the paintings of her in the gallery!

The museum itself is interesting, however the only staff member working, an older woman, was quite rude. We were the only people in the museum and were waiting on my grandmother to complete payment and took pictures (of each other) while still in the gift shop. As my grandmother finished up paying the older woman who was working instructed us that she «was waiting» and flashed us an impatient look. If it had not been for my grandmother’s desire to visit the museum I would not have continued into the museum and asked for a refund. We were literally the only people in the museum within the whole hour we were there. For a rather sleepy museum, I would have expected friendlier service.

This small museum is a big reminder that magical things really do happen. Worth a visit for anyone who believes this.

Having read the recent Ava biographies Living with Miss G, by Mearene Jordan, and The Secret Conversations, I was dying to visit this museum. Actually, I’d been wanting to go for years, but it’s a bit out of the way in what for us in a very small town. We ended up making a trip of it, spent hours looking around the exhibits and then went on the «Ava Gardner Heritage Trail,» and I feel that Ava’s history and life were much richer and more interesting than one would expect.
The museum, though not huge, is professionally curated and organized and has quite a bit of wonderful memorabilia. There are photos one will never find in a book, items such as Ava’s birth certificate, a watch given to her by John Ford, the watch she gave to Sinatra, her MGM «yearbook» photo, books from her personal library, and family photos. The gun and bullets John Huston gave her (as a joke) are on display. My favorite items were her dresses (her waist size was incredible), her dishes (ornate), and photos of her colorful London apartment. The museum has a little theater in which one can watch a short documentary about her life, and they also have another exhibit which displays clips from her films. The museum docents are friendly and informative, and gave us a map so we could go on the «Ava Trail,» which took us to her grave site, the home where she was born, her college, and all the way to her sister’s house in Raleigh to see the spot where Ava introduced Mickey Rooney to her family.
I recommend this wonderful little treasure trove to any Ava fan. You’ll need at least a couple hours to cover the fun stuff — and you won’t be disappointed.

I kept hearing about a museum in Smithfield and finally took a trip to visit it myself. I had never heard of Ava Gardner before but figured she must have been someone well regarded to have her own museum.
The museum is located across from Town Hall and next to the library. There is free parking out front on Business 70 as well as a parking lot behind the museum. Admission is $ 7 for adults if you want to view the exhibits but you can view the gift shop area without paying admission.
Your visit starts with a 17 minute video about Ava’s life from her humble beginnings to becoming the 25^th on the American Film Institute list of female stars. The museum is about 5000sq ft. The museum has dresses, costumes, movie posters, paintings, as well as the china dishes she had and other personal memorabilia. There is also memorbilia of Frank Sinatra, as he was Ava’s third husband.
I liked that all the memorabilia had lengthy written descriptions so I could learn about Ms. Gardner and her life. My favorite part of the museum was the library. There were four binders one had portfolio pictures, another dealt with the men of her life, another was about her career and the last was about her family. The library also had paintings of Ava and more memorabilia. Another highlight for me was a large photograph with many other actors. Clark Gable, Angela Lansbury, are two I remember off hand.
If you are in the Smithfield area, I highly recommend stopping at this museum so that you can learn about the actress Ava Gardner.

I visited this museum on a whim as I was driving up I-​95 through North Carolina back in May. (I had been referred to it by the tourist welcome center.)
Although simple, I love the premise of this place. I don’t come across many institutions that focus on the stars (or even movies!) of the Hollywood golden era, so this was a treat.
The museum itself was small, but I didn’t mind paying the $ 6 entrance. The exhibit mostly consists of portraits lining the walls, but there are also some items on display. It must’ve taken me less than 10 minutes to peruse the place, but the owner was extremely attentive and talked with me in great length about her career; that was nice.
If I do somehow end up in Smithfield again, I might just give it another go, if only to support the museum’s mission.

An all around perfect homage to a beautiful and intriguing woman of her time. You can see the many outfits she owned and costumes she wore, as well as see personal documents that belonged to her. A friendly staff is available to assist you with any questions and the layout is easy to navigate. It isn’t a large museum, but enough to probably take up an hour to 2 hours. If you’re really wanting to be a «true» fan, you can visit Ava’s gravesite not far from the actual museum.