Welcome to 600 Main- a historical bed and breakfast and Victorian Tea Room. This colonial gem stands as a historical threshold right on the center of Main Street; welcoming you into Downtown Toms River. This house was constructed in 1898 and is recognized as outstanding Colonial Revival Architecture. Later on, the house became the estate of Captain Thomas A. Mathis. Mathis was known as a master mariner and local political leader. Mathis and his wife, Helen S. Steelman, purchased the house with his brother-in-law, Maja Leon Berry and his sister-in-law, Edna Steelman, in 1912. During the two couples’ occupancy, the house was the scene of many elegant parties and dinners. By the time Mathis bought 600 Main, he had already served the state and its residents in civic roles for a decade. He was appointed to the New Jersey Senate in 1909 and went on to be re-elected for a half-dozen more terms, rising to become Republican majority leader, then president of the Senate in 1929. In 1931 he was appointed Secretary of State of New Jersey, and served in that position until 1941. Through all that time, he was a kingpin of Republican Party politics in Ocean County. Today this piece of history, not only adds a picturesque view of colonial architecture, but it is a full Bed and Breakfast serving High Tea in their Victorian Tea Room as well as hosts showers, meetings and special occasions.
