On August 26, 2025, a fire broke out at The Heirloom Hotel in Laurel, Mississippi. Ben and Erin Napier, Jim and Mallorie Rasberry, and Josh and Emily Nowell had been renovating the historic building for the HGTV series “Home Town: Inn This Together.” Owners Jim Rasberry and Josh Nowell reflect on the moment they found out about the fire and arrived to watch the devastating scene.
Jim Rasberry and Josh Nowell Open Up About Watching The Heirloom Hotel Fire
During the May 30 episode of “The Heirloom Podcast,” Rasberry and Nowell shared the heartbreak of learning about the hotel fire and arriving on the scene.
“We started this podcast as we were rebuilding the biggest project of our life, a 25,000 square foot building in downtown Laurel is the culmination … 20 years of work,” Nowell explained. “It was something we’ve been wanting a long time, a hotel to serve our community and we were at the finish line.”
He continued, “Moments away from opening it.”
Rasberry added, “It’s really tough to look back and try to see what’s going to come from this.”
Nowell recalled arriving on the scene after being alerted that the hotel was on fire. “It was so painful to watch,” he shared.
Rasberry noted, “The whole knots in your stomach thing, like that’s a real thing. And throughout the morning watching this fire take over was just really difficult to watch. Because what’s happening along the way is, when you live something every day for two years … two years this has been, if not a part of our daily activity, a part of our daily conversation, and certainly on our minds every day.”
Nowell added, “You are watching your lifetime work burn and that’s a very hard thing to see because there’s no certainty of what’s going to happen on the other side. No matter what people believe, there’s no certainty of what’s going to happen next.”
They also explained the timeline, as they had turned on the online booking for 2026 on a Friday or Saturday before the fire.
“And so Tuesday [the fire] happened,” Nowell shared. “And we’d already had so many people book, which again is just one of those things where it shows how people outside of our town care about our town. It means so much to us.”
He continued, “And so we walked in, one of the first orders of business was to stop booking, refund those rooms immediately.”
Nowell also shared that people wanted to book anyway to support them after the fire. “That was so so kind and thoughtful and it just means so much to us because it shows us that we’re not alone in this dream, this heirloom dream that we were building here in our town,” he noted. “And so thank you guys for that.”
Fans Can Support The Heirloom Hotel
After the “Home Town: Inn This Together” finale episode aired, The Heirloom Hotel Instagram account shared a message about how fans can support the rebuilding efforts.
“So many have asked how you can support us! Help us rebuild, one piece of The Heirloom Hotel at a time by purchasing a piece of it that’s been repurposed just for you,” they shared in the caption.
“If you watched the episode tonight then you saw the fire that changed everything at The Heirloom Hotel. What was lost was more than a building and something that so many people had poured into only for us to get SO close, yet never even get to open our doors,” they explained. “Most everything was not salvageable but we couldn’t see these floors, that have seen so many generations, just be thrown in the dumpster too.”
They repurposed the floors, creating a photo rail available for purchase on the Laurel Mercantile website.
“A way we could bring these floors one more life, was for our team to make them into these photo rails for your home or any space that you want to display your cherished images or even heirloom recipes,” they noted. “It makes us feel encouraged as we look at these, that no matter how damaged— beautiful things can still come from the ashes.”
They added, “We build because of the people we’re building for and we hope you will too.”
