Feb. 15 – the day after the Valentine’s Day storm – I hurried to Hannaford for a few necessities. Sherri Jeselskis was taking my money when she saw who was right behind me: It was Bill Gallant and he was holding a dozen green peppers.

Seemed that he and Bev had guests at their Bearly Inn & Restaurant the previous night. But the two guests (men from Connecticut, Bev thought) didn’t arrive in the usual way. On a snowmobile trip, they had lost their way and were bracing for a night in the woods. Luckily they spied lights on in one house, David Bailey’s. Late that night, he delivered them to 28 Weld St. in Dixfield.

A trend?

The Gallants started their business just last summer. How many other bed and breakfast businesses are there in the River Valley today, and when did they get going? My hunch was that B&B numbers are on the rise and that most have started in just the last few years.

I set out for the Rumford Information Center and the Chamber of Commerce to find out. At the center I found brochures for four: The Andover Guest House, Boardwalk Guest Suite at Park Place on Swift River Road (converted by owners Gerald and Joline Boudreau about two years ago), Bearly, and the Ellis Guest House near Teena’s on Prospect Avenue. Ellis House opened for business just two years ago.

As nearly as I can tell, Pine Ellis in Andover gets the “oldest B&B in the River Valley” prize. Eileen and Bob Trainer began their bed and breakfast 17 years ago. The Perennial Inn on Jed Martin Road began more than 10 years ago as the Blue Mountain Country Inn, until the Ginsburgs purchased it in 2003. Anne Morin and Barry Allen opened their Mt. Spring Farm B&B five years ago.

I forgot to ask Marge (Honey) when she and Earle (Bear) opened their cabin on East Andover Road to Appalachian Trail hikers. Lynn Ramsey told me the Townes are “trail angels”: they pick up hikers from the trail and bring them back after their stay at the cabin.

Probably quite a few guests don’t want to leave. For $35 a night at the cabin you get a comfortable bed and hearty meals – “all you can eat.” The Townes run their “business” for love, not money.

Come to think of it, not one of the hosts I spoke with claimed to live on the money they make running a B&B.

Room rates

The range is wide, from (ridiculously low) $35 to $90, with $45 and $55 and $76.50 along the way. “People are glad to pay,” Anne Morin explained, “because we’re so much less expensive than Sunday River.”

Another attraction at several of the hostels: pet friendly (Perennial and Mountain Spring), which, in most cases, means dogs and cats. But Deb Cayer and Matt Bean cater to a rather larger pet – horses. In its first full season last summer, Memory Lane Vacations (Route 5, Andover) welcomed people and horses to their property: a studio apartment for rent and sites for horse vans that have living quarters for humans. “There really aren’t very many places that horse owners can go,” Deb told me.

What to think

The River Valley is an attractive tourist destination. Another good snow season for Black Mountain, and we’ll see still more B&Bs starting up and more business for all of them.

And – this is the best – the River Valley is an appealing, compelling place to live. Charlotte and Lester Ellis moved here from Warwick, R.I., “… to have more space and to get away from the noise and the traffic.” Moreover, they shopped around. “We’d look at maps and take day trips every weekend.”

Susan Johnson, who heads the River Valley Chamber of Commerce, has lived and worked in San Francisco and Sacramento; small towns in Vermont and Georgia; Terre Haute, Ind.; and Barcelona, Spain – to name but a few – where she did contract work and/or was a research and development director. But New England “is home.” Now, nomad no more, she’s settled here and “… it’s gorgeous for my soul.” I know what she means.

Linda Farr Macgregor lives with her husband, Jim, in Rumford. She is a freelance writer and author of “Rumford Stories.” Contact her at [email protected]