CHERI ON LAUREL, #1

I’ve been a fan of the HGTV show Home Town since its inception, so being able to head back to North Carolina through Laurel, Mississippi was a great opportunity.

I figured that coming right after the Christmas holidays would limit the number of other tourists, and being here in January would be the best time, weather-wise.  Well, good news, bad news.  There weren’t too many other tourists – good – but today is Monday, January 2, so a lot of stores were still closed.  Also, despite the temperature being “only” 75°, the humidity was still 92%!

We didn’t get to see the Laurel Mercantile Company, as they were doing inventory, but I greatly enjoyed the Scotsman General Store (largely, but not entirely, “man stuff”) and Erin Napier’s new Scent Library.

As you may have gathered from Mark’s post yesterday, the Scotsman General Store is in the same building as Ben Napier’s workshop, and there is a large window through which you can watch woodworking some of the time.  I picked up a sticker with this saying, which works as well for quilters as it does with woodworkers:

There was a really chill cooler full of craft sodas, which must be jam-packed in the summer.  Be sure to check out the flavors:

Other flavors included peanut butter, prickly pear, and “Cel-Ray.”

One thing that I really appreciated at each of the stores that I went into here was the nice array of jigsaw puzzles.  Maybe there’s been a pandemic resurgence?

We didn’t plan this entire trip ahead of time, and I picked the places to stay from San Antonio to Laurel kind of on the fly.  It was only after we had arrived at our lodging in Laurel that I saw we had actually chosen to stay in a home that was featured on “Home Town.”  (D’oh!)  It was “Bugs and Bones” in Season 6.

It’s a good we didn’t come here for the “grand millennial” vibe that Erin does, however, as the back part of the house that is being rented out was not part of the episode, and is actually decorated with a fairly Southwestern vibe, overlaid with one owner’s fantasy/anatomical/goth artwork.  Surprise!

Finally, talk about burying the lead – properly spelled “lede” in the newspaper industry – opera singer Leontyne Price was born in Laurel.  We saw the top of this picture and didn’t even realize who it was until later.

A family that her aunt worked for helped substantially with her tuition at the Julliard School, but she lived at the Harlem YWCA while she attended . . . that's dedication!

I didn't find a local exhibit devoted to her, but this New York Times article, and the documentary The Opera House, should be a fascinating substitute.