The Heirloom Hotel fire seen in the finale of “Home Town: Inn This Together” was a devastating blow for owners Josh and Emily Nowell and Jim and Mallorie Rasberry, who had spent two years bringing the project to life. HGTV stars Ben and Erin Napier chatted with the owners about the grief they experienced after the fire.
Heirloom Hotel Owners Open Up About Experiencing Grief After the Fire
On the June 7 episode of “The Heirloom Podcast,” the “framily” gathered together to talk about the finale and share how the fire impacted them.
Josh Nowell noted, “I am so glad that we went through the time and trouble to film on top of building. And I’m thankful for [Ben and Erin] for narrating it and telling that story so well. It has been therapy to watch it.”
Erin shared, “I have watched you have a therapeutic experience with it because I feel like it’s been many months of a very thick gloom and then the show, the first episode aired, and I just felt like y’all became a little lighter.”
Jim commented on moving forward through “the severity of it and the weight of the situation.”
“No sense in dwelling on it. I have faith that we will come to a conclusion and we will be better off for it. Whatever ‘it’ looks like,” he explained.
The “framily” have been getting together on Sundays to watch “Home Town: Inn This Together” and it’s been a healing experience.
Josh noted, “You have all these plans and you can’t control the future, but you can control your work. So, you work as hard as you can to try to bring in the future that you see and then the unexpected happens. And so you’re just off course. You don’t know how to aim. You don’t know what you should work on. You don’t know what you should push on.”
He continued, “And this 10-month process, seeing our families come together every Sunday night to watch the show … Being with you guys, it really cements the idea of framily.”
“It’s like, we’re not done with a project. We’re not done with whatever’s next, but I’m very grateful for Sunday nights to watch the show,” Josh added.
Mallorie also shared how devastating it has been for her since the fire.
“The last 10 months, especially right after the fire, my emotions were just all over the place,” she explained. “One minute I would be determined to redo, rebuild better and bigger — and then the next moment I’m just like, I’m done. I’m out.”
She continued, “And then like you just go through that cycle of, I guess, grief … and we’ve had 10 months to process it now. And I could see the past 10 months have been really tough on me. And I think all of us, you know, just emotionally, it’s just been a lot.”
Erin shared her and Ben’s perspective of watching their friends go through this difficult time.
“For us, it’s been like we are watching y’all process this and feeling like it’s something you have to do and it’s not something that we … for the first time we can’t help you,” she said. “Like we can’t help you with this and that has been hard to watch. And then seeing the episodes together is a balm.”
Fans Share Love & Support
The podcast’s YouTube video comments section was flooded with kind words of support from their fans.
“You all are such a wonderful example of loving friends who are there for each other, through all the ups and downs,” one fan noted. “Your resilience and joy and gratitude in spite of this tragedy is so uplifting … All the best to you, and Godspeed on a rebuild. We all love you and are behind you.”
“I pray that they can rebuild the hotel!!” another fan wrote.
“I had no idea about the fire, so watching the last episode was heartbreaking. All of your beautiful, hard work! I’m so sorry,” one fan shared. “Keep moving forward!”
Josh responded, “Keep building!”
Another fan wrote, “Please try to give an update regarding the hotel in future podcasts. A lot of people have become invested in your story as a result of the docuseries. I’m sure it’s an exhausting process dealing with insurance companies and deciding if you will rebuild. America loves your story and all of you. God Bless!”
