Laurel once served as a key local hub at a crossroads, with its own post office, and a ferry across the Nooksack River that connected settlers to western lands before a bridge was built, making it an important link along the early Guide Meridian route.

The road layout around Laurel and Meridian still reflects 19th-century planning, with the Guide Meridian serving as a baseline and intersecting east–west roads like Smith, Ten Mile, and Hemmi forming a geometric grid that preserves the visible imprint of early county settlement.

The Guide Meridian (SR 539), named for the global meridian it follows while traveling due north–south, began as a plank road built between 1884–1885 to create a route through dense forest, opening northern Whatcom County to settlement.

Laurel (sometimes referred to as Meridian) is an unincorporated community in northern Whatcom County, located along State Route 539 (“The Guide”) between Bellingham and Lynden.