Inside the Rebecca Finn House, One of the Most Beautiful Cannabis-Friendly Historic Homes in America
During my cannabis-specific travels over the last five years, bouncing between expos, conferences, award shows, and dinner events, I started noticing that these gatherings feel like their own sometimes chaotic little world. I think they serve a much deeper, mostly subconscious purpose for a lot of us in this industry.
For a few days, they give people who’ve been beaten down by regulations, taxes, uncertainty, burnout, and the constant grind of this business a chance to reconnect, laugh, vent, smoke, and build together in an environment filled with familiar faces that understand what this industry puts people through.
From Atlantic City to Toms River
After several nonstop days at MJ Unpacked in Atlantic City, I was genuinely excited to jump in the car and continue the journey about an hour north. Jeremy Ortiz and I headed to Toms River, New Jersey, to visit my friend Danette Carrion, the owner of The Rebecca Finn House, where we were lucky enough to be invited to a private birthday celebration sponsored by Lowell Herb Co. for a young woman living with Multiple Sclerosis.
Somewhere between the food, conversations, joints, smiles, laughter, and the atmosphere of the house itself, the night transformed into one of those experiences that remind you what the cannabis community is really all about: support. Danette later described the night as “the community rallying behind one of its own and celebrating a milestone,” and honestly, I don’t think she could have said it any better. By the end of the night, neither Jeremy nor I could have imagined a more perfect bookend to an exhausting but deeply meaningful and productive week.
What Danette has built here feels less like a venue and more like a firmly rooted, living piece of the town itself. The Rebecca Finn House was once the centerfold in our Destination Edition back in early 2025, the photos genuinely do not do this place justice.
Built in 1868, this house is not the only historic home in the U.S. that has become cannabis-friendly, but it is one of the most unique and culturally significant cannabis-friendly historic homes in the country because of how fully the property has embraced cannabis hospitality, wellness, events, and community inside an actual historic residential landmark.
What makes the Rebecca Finn House stand out is that it’s not a lounge, an Airbnb, or your average event space that “allows cannabis.” Jeremy described it as “the perfect balance between history, hospitality, and community and a place where people can genuinely connect, unwind, and feel at home”.
It functions much more like a preserved historic estate that has been reimagined as a cannabis-friendly cultural and event destination. That combination is still extremely rare. There are no doubt historic mansions used for private cannabis events, cannabis-friendly bed-and-breakfasts, renovated old homes repurposed into lounges or hospitality spaces, and historic commercial buildings converted into cannabis clubs, but there doesn’t seem to be anything quite like the Rebecca Finn House.
That’s actually one of the fascinating things about this: states like California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington legalized cannabis earlier, but strict zoning laws, hospitality regulations, smoking restrictions, federal banking and insurance problems, and historic preservation rules have made it very difficult to openly operate cannabis event spaces inside landmark homes.
That means the Rebecca Finn House sits in this beautiful intersection of historic preservation and cannabis normalization through wellness and hospitality. There may not be another place in the world doing all of this at the same time while also being a true historic landmark.
Rebecca Finn House: A Historic Home Unlike Anything Else in Cannabis
When we first pulled up to the Rebecca Finn House, we thought we were arriving at a cool overnight stop and a cannabis-friendly event space, but we couldn’t have been more wrong. The second we stepped onto the property, both of us realized this place was operating on a completely different frequency than most of the cannabis industry. This was a real historical property with that warm-hug energy holding up the walls. The kind of place that slows your breathing down the second you walk inside.
What Danette has built here feels less like a venue and more like a firmly rooted, living piece of the town itself. The Rebecca Finn House was once the centerfold in our Destination Edition back in early 2025, the photos genuinely do not do this place justice.
Built in 1868, this house is not the only historic home in the U.S. that has become cannabis-friendly, but it is one of the most unique and culturally significant cannabis-friendly historic homes in the country because of how fully the property has embraced cannabis hospitality, wellness, events, and community inside an actual historic residential landmark.
What makes the Rebecca Finn House stand out is that it’s not a lounge, an Airbnb, or your average event space that “allows cannabis.” Jeremy described it as “the perfect balance between history, hospitality, and community and a place where people can genuinely connect, unwind, and feel at home”.
It functions much more like a preserved historic estate that has been reimagined as a cannabis-friendly cultural and event destination. That combination is still extremely rare. There are no doubt historic mansions used for private cannabis events, cannabis-friendly bed-and-breakfasts, renovated old homes repurposed into lounges or hospitality spaces, and historic commercial buildings converted into cannabis clubs, but there doesn’t seem to be anything quite like the Rebecca Finn House.
That’s actually one of the fascinating things about this: states like California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington legalized cannabis earlier, but strict zoning laws, hospitality regulations, smoking restrictions, federal banking and insurance problems, and historic preservation rules have made it very difficult to openly operate cannabis event spaces inside landmark homes.
That means the Rebecca Finn House sits in this beautiful intersection of historic preservation and cannabis normalization through wellness and hospitality. There may not be another place in the world doing all of this at the same time while also being a true historic landmark.
A Cannabis Space That Doesn’t Feel Forced
Danette didn’t buy some trendy property and awkwardly force cannabis onto it because she was told it would be profitable. She rescued a piece of history and somehow preserved everything that made it special while still creating a place where people can gather, consume, celebrate, heal, and feel comfortable being themselves. The floors creak, the architecture has weight and elegance from the trim work to the windows, lighting, and flow of the rooms, and it all somehow feels both traditional and elevated perfectly for cannabis events without losing its warmth. That’s incredibly hard to pull off, but somehow Danette figured it out. There’s something powerful about sitting inside a historic home passing joints while surrounded by history and community, instead of being shoved outside behind barricades or hidden away in some isolated smoking section. The grounds themselves are beautifully maintained without feeling overly manicured or artificial. Everything reflects care, intention, and pride. You can tell Danette genuinely gives a damn about every inch of the property and every person who walks through the doors.
Jeremy and I spent the night eating phenomenal food prepared by the on-site chef, smoking joints, and getting pulled into conversations that stretched deep into the night.
One of the highlights for both of us was spending time with Jenna Levesque, SVP of Lowell Herb Co. We learned a lot about Lowell and why she loves doing these community-focused events with Danette.
“We’ve seen great community traction while hosting community-based events with Danette,” Jenna said. “Being able to connect in an intimate setting with consumers is a rarity in our industry and here we can educate and present our product in a way that we can’t in dispensary settings. By investing our time and energy in the community with Danette, we have created our most saturated area of loyal Lowell consumers (Toms River) in the state of New Jersey”.
Why Places Like The Rebecca Finn House Matter
Danette deserves a massive amount of credit for what she’s built here because places like this are rare and don’t happen easily or by accident. They happen because somebody is willing to risk something emotionally, financially, professionally, and personally to create them. Independent operators like Danette are the reason cannabis still has a heartbeat underneath all the corporate noise that continues to flood into the industry. Because while giant companies spend millions trying to manufacture authenticity, people like Danette quietly build spaces where authenticity naturally exists. Danette is a proud entrepreneur, mother of five, grandmother of one, and someone whose love for the Gilded Age led her directly toward restoring this incredible property. But more importantly, she’s somebody who understands hospitality on a deep level. Every detail reflects care, and the Rebecca Finn House works because it was built with intention instead of pure profit motive. After finally experiencing The Rebecca Finn House in person, it exceeded every expectation I had walking in. Not because it’s flashy or exclusive, but because it feels personal, like I could melt into the couch just like I do at home or sit in a rocking chair on the front deck and find a moment of peace. After several days in Atlantic City with nonstop conversations, packed elevators, late-night strategy talks, and the strange emotional high that cannabis conferences create, Jeremy and I ended up in this quiet historic house in Toms River surrounded by love, good people, amazing food, and copious amounts of flower and concentrates. I can’t wait to do it again!
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