Welcome to the Laurel Inn Bed & Breakfast, where history and Mississippi hospitality meet.  This charming manor was built in 1917 by timber baron, John Murray Bissell in the Colonial Revival Style.  In 1917, Laurel was the yellow pine lumber capital of the world.  We had four giant lumber mills: Eastman-Gardiner, Gilchrist-Fordney, Wausau-Southern and Marathon.  Mr. Bissell was a partial owner of two of these mills; Wausau-Southern and Marathon.  Bissell was born in Schofield, Wisconsin in 1884 and first came to Laurel with his father in1902, prospecting for timber.  The Wausau-Southern mill opened in 1911 and the Marathon mill opened in 1914.  Mr. Bissell moved to Laurel in 1913 and was the general manager of the Marathon Mill.  Legend has it that Mr. Bissell personally picked out every board that went into the house.  Supposedly, there is only one knothole in the entire 5,400 square foot home! The style of the house and the clapboard siding look are more quite unique for this area.  Perhaps he built this to remind him of his Wisconcin roots. 

Mr. Bissell was a widower when he moved to Laurel and soon married Miss Martha McMillan.. Mrs. Bissell was a wonderful lady and enjoyed entertaining, making this house come alive for many years. The Bissell’s loved their home and Mr. Bissell lived here until his death in 1951. Mrs. Bissell remained in the house until 1971, until she moved to a nursing home. 

The house was then bought by George Gardiner Green, Jr., who did a wonderful addition to the back of the establishment, where stands one of the most unusual features about the home: The fireplace in the den is actually freestanding – it is completely separate from the house and is only connected by glass! Mr. Green later sold the house to Lucy Otto who first made this gem into a Bed & Breakfast.  However it was Kevin and Peggy O’Connell who purchased it in 1998 that truly brought it to its full beauty and well known status of The Laurel Inn: An Escape from the Ordinary.  With doors hospitably open wide, the new innkeepers, Mike and Allison Travis, welcome you to The Laurel Inn.  It’s like coming home.