The Villa Park House Bed and Breakfast Inn is a Victorian era home located in Spring Lake, New Jersey. Read about the owners and innkeeper of this charming establishment below.

Matthew Schmid has over 25 years of experience operating restaurant and catering facilities in exclusive areas such as Philadelphia’s ‘Main Line”, Palm Beach and Manhattan. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, and founder of its prestigious ‘Eta Sigma Delta’ Honor Society, he has spent the last decade at some of New York City’s landmarks; managing the banquet service at Rockefeller Center’s “Rainbow Room”, then the flagship “W” Hotel, and traveling with the “opening team” to Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles as the Starwood chain opened it’s newest hotels. In 2001 , Matthew hit the high point of his New York career, taking the position of Director of Banquet Service at the world renowned Waldorf Astoria. He is thrilled to be pursuing his lifelong dream, owning and operating a Bed and Breakfast.

Dara Schmid (Brown) is currently an anchor and producer for MSNBC.com, and a newsblock anchor for MSNBC and CNBC-TV. Previous to joining MSNBC as a journalist in early 2000, she was host of various TV and cable shows, many of which took her on travels around the world. A graduate of New York University, with a BA in journalism and a BS in East Asian Studies, Dara has worked in Japan, China and studied at England’s Oxford University. At the age of 10, she began a professional career in show business, performing in Broadway shows, National Tours, Movies and TV ads. Her caricature hangs alongside Broadway’s finest on the famous walls of Sardi’s Restaurant in New York City.

Dara is no stranger to historic sites, chairing the junior committee fund raising events for four years at New York’s Mount Vernon Hotel and Gardens Museum. She returns to her hometown roots of the Jersey Shore with the Villa Park House.