Forty years ago, Heritage House Interiors opened its doors in a 200-year-old carriage house in the sleepy shore town of Barnegat with a population that was then around 1,200 people. Located at 408 North Main St. (Route 9 north),less than 7 milesnorth of the causeway to Long Beach Island, it may have seemed the most unlikely place to establish a furniture business. A. Henry Tawyea, who hales from Connecticut, wanted to live and work in an environment like the rural Connecticut he knew.

Barnegat has the village ambience, and the business property that he shares with his partner and spouse, David…