Laurel, Mississippi

Sometimes breakfast is a sign of what the rest of my day will be like. If that’s true, today will feature the unexpected and be full of flavor. Tonight’s show is in the county equine arena. I get off the bus, which is parked inside the arena, walk across the dirt floor, across a dirt road, and into a horse barn where breakfast is being served. A gentleman in biker clothes with a long beard is there behind the serving table. He and his wife and their three kids have cooked breakfast today. The featured item is jalapeño-cheese deer sausage. It is addictive, it’s so good. There is also a delicious baked egg and cheese dish and fresh biscuits. It’s going to be a good day.

After getting dropped off at the hotel for a shower, I go for a walk to explore and get some exercise. For the first twenty minutes of my walking from southwest Laurel toward the town center, the town seems a bit run down. Once I get on 5th Avenue and cross north of city hall, the landscape takes a dramatic turn. Beginning with a beautiful Methodist church, dramatic early 1900’s homes line the next few tree-lined blocks.

Just a block or two down, I come across the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art. I don’t anticipate it being open on a Sunday afternoon, but the walk to the front door finds it open. The first art museum in Mississippi, the Laurel Rogers Museum of Art is named and built in honor of the namesake. Mr. Rogers lived with his parents in the house across the street. His parents were a wealthy lumber family that moved here from Iowa. Mr. Rogers was a young Yale grad going into the family business and building a home on this site for his future life with his fiancé. He died unexpectedly at the age of twenty-three from “Athlete’s Heart,” a condition that developed as a result of contracting Typhoid earlier in life.

The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art

The framing for the house was torn down and this museum built in its place. What a treasure for this city. The building itself is quite beautiful. The collection is very good. It has some well-known artists represented, as well as a large collection of silver, Japanese art, and an exhibit of Native American weaving art.

Lauren Rogers boyhood home across the street from the museum.


After the museum, I walk along several more blocks enjoying the serenity and beauty of the area. Later that night, tonight’s show is the best yet and before a big crowd of about 2,000. What a good, surprising day in Laurel, MS.