Smithfield Day Trip: The Ava Gardner Museum and the Outlet Run
A Hollywood legend’s hometown museum, a riverwalk nobody talks about, and the outlets — 35 minutes southeast of Raleigh.
Here’s the thing about Smithfield: most people from the Triangle only know it as the blur of outlet signs off I-95 they pass on the way to the beach. Brake lights, a Nike sign, a Banana Republic sign, and then back up to 70 mph. That’s a mistake. Tucked into this Johnston County town of about 12,000 is one of the strangest, most charming small museums in North Carolina — dedicated to a barefoot tobacco farmer’s daughter who became one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. Add a quiet riverwalk on the Neuse, a downtown that still has its bones, and yes, the outlets, and you’ve got a genuine day trip that costs almost nothing and sits a half hour from your driveway.
Take US-70 East out of Raleigh — it’s faster and prettier than I-40 to I-95, and it drops you right into downtown. Budget about 35 minutes from the Beltline. Here’s how to spend the day.
Ava Gardner Museum — Smithfield
325 E Market St, Smithfield
Start here, because this is the reason to make the trip. Ava Gardner was born in 1922 in Grabtown, a crossroads community just outside Smithfield, the youngest of seven kids on a tobacco and cotton farm. She got “discovered” from a photo in a New York shop window, signed with MGM, and went on to star opposite Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, and Gregory Peck — married to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, and Frank Sinatra along the way. And this little museum on Market Street tells the whole arc with a level of detail that borders on obsessive, in the best way.
The collection started with a fan named Tom Banks who met Ava as a kid in 1941 and spent his life collecting her memorabilia. That origin shows — this isn’t a sterile institutional museum, it’s a love letter. You’ll find movie posters, the gowns she actually wore on screen, personal correspondence, portraits, and props from films like Mogambo and The Barefoot Contessa. Give yourself 60 to 90 minutes. Admission runs around $12 for adults, and they’re typically open Monday through Saturday plus Sunday afternoons. The staff and volunteers genuinely love this stuff, so ask questions — that’s where the good stories come out.
A small heads-up for the road-trip-minded: Ava is buried at Sunset Memorial Park (1217 Brightleaf Blvd) a few minutes away, in the family plot. Some fans make the pilgrimage. No pressure either way — but it’s there if it moves you.
Downtown Smithfield — Smithfield
Market Street corridor
Smithfield’s downtown is small but real — brick storefronts, a few antique shops, and the kind of slower pace that makes you remember you’re not in Raleigh anymore. The Howell Theatre on Market Street is a single-screen movie house that’s been running since the 1930s, the sort of place that still charges sane prices for a ticket and popcorn. Even if you don’t catch a show, it’s worth a look from the sidewalk.
For lunch, you’ve got a couple of honest options downtown. Simple Twist (107 S Third St) does a from-scratch lunch and dinner with a rotating menu and is the closest thing Smithfield has to a date-night spot. If you want something more old-school, ask a local where they actually eat — this is a town that still runs on word of mouth.
White Swan Bar-B-Q — Smithfield
3198 US Hwy 301 S, Smithfield
You cannot drive through Johnston County and skip the barbecue. White Swan has been smoking eastern North Carolina-style pork here since 1960 — that’s the vinegar-and-pepper, whole-hog, no-tomato gospel that people in this part of the state will fight you over. Get a chopped pork plate with hush puppies and Brunswick stew, and don’t overthink it. There’s a second location and they’ve done some franchising over the years, but the US-301 spot is the heritage one. It’s a few minutes south of downtown and an easy detour on your way to the outlets.
If you’d rather stay closer to the museum, Becky’s Log Cabin (a Johnston County BBQ institution out toward Selma) is another option — but White Swan is the safer bet for the classic plate.
Neuse Riverwalk & Smithfield Town Commons — Smithfield
Front St along the Neuse River
This is the part nobody tells you about. The Neuse River runs right along the edge of downtown, and Smithfield has built a walkable greenway and town commons along it. The Neuse Riverwalk connects to the broader Buffalo Creek Greenway, giving you a flat, shaded, paved path along the water — perfect for walking off the barbecue. It’s genuinely peaceful: river on one side, big hardwoods overhead, herons if you’re lucky.
There’s a boardwalk section and benches if you just want to sit and watch the water move. Free parking near the commons downtown. Go in spring or fall when the temperature cooperates; midsummer in the Johnston County humidity is a commitment. If you’re traveling with kids or a dog, this is your release valve between the museum’s quiet and the outlets’ fluorescent chaos.
Carolina Premium Outlets — Smithfield
1025 Outlet Center Dr, Smithfield (I-95 Exit 95)
And then there’s the reason most people already know Smithfield’s name. Carolina Premium Outlets is a large open-air outlet center off I-95, with the usual heavy hitters — Nike, Adidas, Coach, Polo Ralph Lauren, Banana Republic, Michael Kors, and a rotating cast of others. It’s a Tanger property, so if you’ve got a Tanger account or a coupon book, it applies here.
Strategy matters. Hit the Nike and adidas outlets first if those are your targets — they’re the anchors and the most picked-over by mid-afternoon. The center is open-air, so weather is a real factor; there’s not much shelter when it storms. Parking is free and plentiful, but it sprawls, so note where you left the car. Honest take: this is a solid, mid-tier outlet center, not a destination on its own. But bolted onto a museum visit and a riverwalk, it rounds out the day — and you can knock out actual shopping you needed to do anyway instead of pretending Crabtree counts as an outing.
How to run the day
Here’s the order that works. Leave Raleigh mid-morning on US-70 East. Hit the Ava Gardner Museum first, while you’re fresh and the stories land — that’s the heart of the trip. Walk downtown and grab lunch, then detour to White Swan if you skipped barbecue (or make it lunch and eat lighter downtown). Walk it off on the Neuse Riverwalk in the early afternoon. Finish at the outlets on your way back toward I-95, where the parking lot empties out as the dinner hour approaches.
Total cost for two people, not counting whatever you spend at the outlets: maybe $40 to $60 with museum admission and a barbecue lunch. That’s a real day out for less than dinner-and-a-movie back in Raleigh.
The point of Smithfield isn’t that any one thing is world-class. It’s that a barefoot girl from a Grabtown farm became Frank Sinatra’s wife and a Hollywood icon, and her hometown kept the receipts — and you can stand in front of the gowns, walk the same river, and be home for dinner. The Triangle’s best day trips aren’t always the obvious ones.
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