On September 3, 1925, the USS Shenandoah, the first of three large rigid airships ever built in the USA, broke apart in a storm, and crashed to the ground near Ava, Ohio. In the hours and days following the crash, thousands of people flocked to the crash sites, taking parts of the wreckage as souvenirs. Some thousands still come to the small town of Ava today to visit the crash sites, especially around September 3rd, the anniversary of the crash. The owners of the garage in town, Theresa and Bryan Rayner, became the chief local historians of the crash, directing people to the crash sites, and arranging memorials and displays. They made a museum about the crash inside a camper trailer they had towed away from a wreck on the highway. Inside are many historic photos of the crash, as well as pieces of the Shenandoah. The mobile museum resides inside their now closed gas station/garage in Ava.