Leaving the Big Easy behind, it was a gorgeous day for a drive on I-10 across Lake Pontchartrain as we headed to our next destination.

If the town name of Laurel rings a bell with you, then you must be fans of the very popular home renovation show on HGTV, Home Town, hosted by Erin and Ben Napier.

We watch the show frequently but didn’t realize when we made our reservation for a one night stay at Sleepy Hollow RV Park that this was the very same Laurel! Silly us!

At check in we were assigned to pull thru site #42 which had plenty of room for both the coach and the Jeep. Decent park with well spaced out paved sites. Once settled in, we decided to take a ride into town which is where the HGTV show Home Town with Erin and Ben is filmed. Cute town! But we learned that it wasn’t always so cute – in the 1990’s, the town had fallen into disrepair and was all but abandoned. But thanks to the efforts of Ben and Erin and several of their friends, the town made a major comeback as detailed in this article in Southern Living. Incredible what can be accomplished!

Besides gawking at all the beautiful buildings, home to numerous shops and restaurants, one of the stops we made was at The Scotsman General Store and Woodshop which is not only a general store but is also Ben’s workshop and where some of the filming for the show takes place.

The shop is set up with clear windows so you can watch the show being filmed. Unfortunately nothing was happening while we were there.

Leaving the store, we rode around the town trying to figure out the houses we might have seen renovated on the show. We didn’t realize at the time, that there is a map of the town that shows all of the things to see and do in Laurel. It is available at a number of places, The Scotsman, Lott Furniture Company or the Laurel Welcome Center.

Our stay in Laurel was much to short – we barely had time to experience the charm of this lovely Southern town. We’ll need to return someday!

Photos can be found here.