Home to an incredible collection of items including childhood memorabilia, film clips, costumes, domestic and foreign posters, countless black-and-white stills, film scripts, magazine covers, and scrapbooks. Ava Gardner was born near Smithfield and her grave site is located in Sunset Memorial Gardens, approximately 3 miles from the museum. Museum and Gift shop open Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 2pm-5pm. The Ava Gardner Museum is located off I-95 in Johnston County.