New Owners Getting Settled In At Bed & Breakfast in Rochester

By Martha Slater

Richard and Debbie Mathiesen and their daughter, Karissa, have spent the past month settling in at their new home on Main St. in Rochester village.

The Mathiesens, who moved to Rochester from the town of Ramsey in northern New Jersey, bought the former Cooper-Weber House B & B from Ron and Sandy Brown in early February. They plan to re-open the business as the Pumpkin Patch B & B and hope to welcome their first official guests in mid-May. They will offer three guest rooms, including a suite over the barn, and will have a room with attached bath on the ground floor that will be completely handicapped accessible.

"We travel a lot and have a grown daughter with special needs and many places aren’t equipped to handle that," Debbie explained, "so, we wanted to have a place where everyone could be comfortable. Of course, we’ll welcome anyone, but if someone has a family member with special needs, then we’ll be set up for that."

A tour on a recent stormy afternoon showed that the Mathiesens have filled the historic old house with furniture and collectibles that are a good fit. The flames in the fireplace in the dining room crackled cheerfully as Debbie pointed out her collection of blue and white china and the many pumpkins in all sorts of materials that inspired the name for their new business.

The Mathiesens clearly love old houses. The home they moved from in New Jersey was the same house Rich was raised in.

"I was the grandfather of the block when we left," Rich joked, recalling the block-long tag sales he used to organize there. Retired from a career as a draftsman and designer with an aircraft company, he also makes and sells beautifully crafted wooden toys, accent shelves and other decorative wood items, and will soon set up his wood shop in the barn.

Debbie was a hairdresser, but after Karissa was born, she began a housecleaning business, because she could take her daughter along, then she worked in the hot lunch program at their local school. She and her husband were involved in a number of things in their town, particularly the band parents organization, since their son belonged to his high school marching band. The family also spent three years hosting exchange students from Japan.

In addition to Karissa, who will help them welcome guests at the B & B, the Mathiesens have a son, Richard, who is a sound engineer and drummer and lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their four-year-old daughter, Annie, in Mahwah, N.J.

The Mathiesens, who will celebrate their 40^th wedding anniversary in May, said they are looking forward to getting to know people in the area and enjoyed attending their first Town Meeting in Rochester last week.

"We’ve learned a lot about the history of this house from Larry Curtis, and we’re very interested in preserving it," Debbie said. "We’d like to carry on what the Browns did and become involved in our new community."

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