Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, NC

I was traveling for work recently, and ended up having time to stop at the Ava Gardner museum in Smithfield, NC. It had been something I've wanted to visit for years, but it's just slightly too far away to be a convenient day trip. It was fabulous! There was a film room that played a 15-20 minute movie about her life. The main exhibit room had displays of her actual dresses, jewelry, different possessions she owned, and tons of pictures. There was a "library" with over a dozen paintings of her, and a video of her on the game show "What's my Line" playing. A fair amount of people were visiting the museum that day. Maybe I'm being dramatic, but I would have been a little heartbroken thinking that no one cared enough to visit her museum besides me. The museum definitely focused on the positive parts of her life, and stayed away from most of the scandal. Even though that might not have been completely realistic, I'm glad the museum chose to do it that way. 

The gift shop had a lot of fun souvenirs that were reasonably priced. I bought a set of cards with her photo and quotes. They even sold moonshine jam! If anyone is interested in making a trip, they are having a film festival and various activities October 4-6. I'm not sure if photos inside were allowed or not, but I only took one goofy picture of me in the front.