Then we drove around near our campground back in Laurel to familiarize ourselves with the layout & streets we will be using over the next week.
The HGTV show “Hometown Makeover” with Ben & Erin brought us to this sweet little city. We LOVE all the wall murals everywhere! Pride in one’s hometown is contagious!
The next day we drove over to Jackson, the state capital. We try to visit big cities on weekends when traffic is not as crazy.
Of course I MUST get pictures of the many strange shaped buildings I see along the roads. This was a Catfish House somewhere between Laurel & Jackson, MS.And then there was the barn just a hop, skip away that had the most glorious cross out front. We stopped in for lunch at Whataburger, a great mid-south burger joint/franchise!Jackson is the capital city of Mississippi. It’s not all that big of a city so it was rather quiet & peaceful around the Capital building on the Sunday we visited. The building was very pretty!I loved the statuary around the Capital grounds. This was my favorite!Even the back of the building was pretty.Across the street was an impressive Supreme Court building.The pictures above & below were across another street in front of the Veteran’s Affairs building. The statue & message along the wall shown on the picture below tugged at my heart.
After we left Jackson, we consulted our Roadside America app for neat things to see. And we were directed to the tiny little town of “Hot Coffee.” It was literally a few rather run down houses & a dilapidated store. And it gave me the creeps. There was a whistling around the car as we drove the nearly 20 miles off the highway to it. Heavy woods & a canopy of overhanging limbs probably created a wind channel but it was definitely disconcerting. We snapped a couple pictures & hightailed it out of there!
The Hot Coffee Grocery.
The following day we spent some time in downtown Laurel. Monday’s are not the best day to visit this city as many places are closed on Sunday & Monday. So we used the quieter, less trafficy time to take pictures & window shop.
I love taking pictures of Historic Markers to later read about the place & stories. This building began it’s life in 1914 – well taken care of evidenced by it’s ”new” appearance.This one was a disappointment! The hotel that stood on this sight was built in 1914, listed on the National Register in 1987 but then demolished in 1988. The Arabian Theater was closed when we visited with no plays scheduled for awhile. That would have been a fun thing to do while in this sweet little city. Maybe another year?This water fountain & the gazebo beyond were built on the site of the old Pinehurst Hotel.An impressive statue on a corner in downtown. Honoring the Confederates.Laurel celebrates ”Hometown” & this big mural was right at Ben’s Scotsman’s shop.Carrying art onto what would be plain ole gray utility boxes was rather cute.And even on newspaper/brochure boxes.Southern Antiques is one of the regular shops shown on the show ”Hometown Makeover” so we HAD to stop in!Lots of fun little restaurants were scattered throughout downtown.We had a good homemade meal of fried chicken at this place on the outskirts of Laurel.Another day we returned to Laurel specifically to eat at Pearl’s Diner. There was a line waiting to get it right at 11. The food was good but the crowd was a bit abundant. And the staff telling people to eat fast so more people would have a table was off-putting. This little park in town was specifically designed for children. I do believe the “grass” was artificial but it sure looked good!Another great mural.Laurel Mercantile had all the show’s merch & we got our prerequisite pin for the camper, a post card for Lily & a great ceramic mug for me. The Airstream camper made me smile.This building was along a side street in town. I remember learning all about the “Odd Fellows” club while volunteering at the Barrow County Museum. Fun community club!We were glad to see so many of the old buildings so well taken care of with new businesses using them.One shop owner told us the little city was nearly a ghost town just 5 years ago. Then, Ben & Erin’s show was created & the shops populated quickly to the delight of everyone who lives & thrives there.This was a crafting store. Loved seeing some children making treasures.When a new store is being renovated nearby (in this case, across the street) one shares the use of electricity to power those saws & such. That’s pretty darn neighborly!I thought the banners & nice street lights around town were a nice touch.
Towards the middle of the week we ventured out to find more neat things around Laurel. Again, the Roadside America app helped us find them.
The grave of Sylvester MaGee was a poignant discovery for us. It’s located some 30 miles west of Hattisburg in Marion County. Although impossible to actually confirm, Mr McGee is believed to have been the longest living man EVER. He was 130 years old at the time of his passing in 1971. We just happened to have found the small church & cemetery where he was laid to rest as a woman was there meeting a concrete contractor about pouring cement on top of her parents graves. Seems the graveyard floods frequently & an occasional casket surfaces. It was for this reason there was a very thick slab on top of Mr McGee’s grave. The woman we spoke with was a teenager around the time Mr McGee was in his final years & she remembered him fondly. Her smile as she spoke of him made it obvious he left her with good memories. Moments & encounters like that bring history alive. Bless this gentleman who was sold into slavery as a young man & later fought in both the Confederate & Union Army’s. Look him up on the web. The stories are astounding!
Next we ventured into downtown Hattisburg to find the smallest museum which was really an alleyway locals have been most creative in designing. There is one “window” display that is the actual tiny museum but the entire alley had adorable little venues & artwork done by locals on a whim. It was so fun!
This is the actual “museum” which has new stuff switched into it monthly.
Walking around downtown Hattisburg after regular business hours was easy – lite traffic & few people. There were nice wall murals & great building to photograph. The city leaders are doing a great job with preservation & maintenance from what we could see.
The Post Office …Lots of Confederate statues in the South.This “banjo” was in front of the Cultural Center pictured below.I loved this church & it’s huge balcony below the steeple.What a HOUSE! It’s now a law firm. Huge, beautiful Victorian – even has it’s own fountain!Another of the nice statuary around town.The Jook – pictured below – appears to be a music shack for open air concerts. How fun with all it’s oddities!Sometimes you come across the most interesting history & this plaque & statue below definitely falls into this category. Mr Dahmer was a kind & generous man who stood up for equality in a time of turmoil. His story, as described on the plaque was not one I was familiar with. So glad we stopped to take this picture & learn about him & his leadership. It took 32 years to finally bring his murderer to justice.
Back into Laurel we went for our final day in the area.
This is my new favorite cup from Laurel!And we did get to the Scotsman’s store for a picture in front of Ben’s woodshop.One must take a picture of “something” in the bathroom at the Scotsman’s. This baby changing table was the only thing I could think of.I didn’t know this before but Ben & Erin have an old Volkswagen they call Betsy. This building they revamped bares the same name & is actually an AirBnB.We took a Limo tour around town to see & be told of many of the houses & such “Hometown Makeover” has done. Our Limo was hot pink – I didn’t get an outside picture of it, just inside & it was very nice. I wouldn’t really recommend this tour as the windows are tiny & you just see snip-its of stuff on the drive. The driver is knowledgeable but it was too discombobulated to be enjoyable. Fun folks on board with us anyway.
And finally, this was the current house Ben & Erin were working on when we were there. We look forward to watching the episode when this one is shown.
Oh. My. Goodness! We were SUPPOSED to move on to Louisiana on the 16th. However, I apparently got food poisoning & got seriously sick during the night. Still feeling queasy the next morning, Perry asked at the office if we could extend a day. He said he had felt icky, too, so it was probably something we had for lunch the day before. I called the campground we were moving to & let them know we would be a day late. Things happen & you just roll with it.
We moved on to Louisiana on the 17th – St. Patrick’s Day! Life is good!
