High atop Zion’s Hill in Dexter, tucked into 2 acres of gardens, is a historical treasure.

The Brewster Inn, once the home of Gov. Ralph O. Brewster (later Sen. Brewster), is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Recently acquired by Michael and Ivy Brooks, the house retains its 1930s personality, a place where overnight guests can wander through halls once walked by the famous in entertainment and political circles.

Surrounded by two porches and a patio, carefully restored gardens and arbors, the enormous, awning-decked home was built with entertaining in mind. Hollywood legend Louis B. Meyer visited there. So did President Truman, President Taft and U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith.

Built on the site of the former Brewster family home, the inn was constructed in 1934. The 19-room home has been renovated into a bed-and-breakfast inn, but owners Ivy and Michael, formerly of Pennsylvania, have worked hard to keep intact the rich historical significance of the home.

“Every person in this town over the age of 60 comes up to me and says, `You know, I poured tea there when I was a Girl Scout,’ or `I mowed the lawn up there when I was a boy,”‘ said Ivy Brooks, laughing during a recent interview.

“When I questioned why it seemed every elderly man in town had once mowed the Brewsters’ lawn, I was told, `Well, you know, they only paid $1.50 for the job. No one ever did it a second time,”‘ she said.

During his more than 35 years of public service, Brewster served in the Legislature for three terms and was elected governor of Maine in 1924. He served two terms before going to Congress for two terms in the House of Representatives and two terms in the Senate. Brewster was born in Dexter in 1888 and died there on Christmas Day 1961.

The home was built in 1934 by architect John Calvin Stevens, one of Maine’s most famous architects — he also built Portland City Hall.

“The details are just wonderful,” said Ivy Brooks, noting the abundance of fireplaces, windows and built-in cabinetry.

Visitors immediately can tell this isn’t going to be just any old home when they read the neatly printed card next to the front entrance: “For service, please ring both bells.”

“The front doorbell only rang in the servants’ quarters,” said the inn owner, “so we had to install a second bell.”

Walking through the front entrance is like stepping back in time. A curving staircase with two bannisters sweeps upstairs, the front hallway flanked by a sun room and the living room. The inn retains its original wallpaper and fine wooden flooring, and even the original cut-glass and brass light fixtures are still in place.

But the couple have added their own decorating touches, artistically blending antiques, art deco and whimsy.

“All of the things in the rooms are ours,” said Michael Brooks. “They reflect us.”

Ivy’s collection of lace is displayed in one bedroom. The mah-jongg game belonging to Michael’s grandmother and his great-aunt’s backgammon set rest in the living room. Hand-cut copper quilting stencils, once belonging to Ivy’s mother, hang on a bedroom wall.

Unifying the house are Michael’s radios, a vast collection of plastic and wooden table radios from the 1940s and 1950s.

Flowers, candles and pottery are everywhere, and a complicated stereo system can pipe soft music throughout the inn, or Michael can hand-crank the antique Victorola in the living room.

One long hallway upstairs contains a collection of photographs that the Brewster family has lent to the owners. Margaret Chase Smith is caught smiling, enjoying a lobster with the governor. Brewster is shown at the house, in Congress and on the political trail.

Each room has its own personality: the Game Room, formerly Gov. Brewster’s office; the Garden Room; the Truman Room (yes, Truman slept there in 1942, and the framed thank-you letter he sent is right there on the wall to prove it); the Sun Room, filled with antique toys and books.

The numerous hallways and back stairwells create a labyrinth. What a fun house this inn would be for a 6-year-old. One can envision the ultimate game of hide-and-seek, with a never-ending supply of hiding places: 15-foot-long window seats; a secret compartment that hides an enormous safe; doors that appear to be closets suddenly opening onto stairways going both up and down; and a balcony reached by “upside down” windows where Brewster is said to have stood for speechmaking.

“It even has a laundry chute,” said Ivy Brooks.

Finding their way around the enormous house often proved confusing for the new owners when they first arrived, said Michael Brooks. “I spent the first few weeks wondering where I was,” he said with a grin.

Ivy Brooks said the couple didn’t have much renovating to do when they arrived last May to take over the inn, but have “opened it up and let the light in.” Heavy drapes, likely the originals from 1934, she said, were removed to let light and air flow through the house.

Because so much of the community seems to have a bond with the house, “we feel a great historical responsibility to this community,” said Ivy Brooks. “This is not just a building. It has a lot of personal attachment to the people of Dexter and Maine.

“When we make a change, we are very careful to take the original structure and appearance into consideration.”

More than 200 pages of blueprints found in the attic help. The blueprints detail every inch of the house, as well as the thousands of plants originally installed in the gardens.

A computer teacher who is called to travel across the country, Michael Brooks spent years staying in other bed-and-breakfast homes, refining what he knew he wanted in his own B&B. The couple vacationed, and researched, along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts. The search proved to take a lot longer than the Philadelphia-based couple planned.

“About two years ago, Michael reminded me that I had spent five years looking at a five-year plan,” laughed Ivy Brooks.

Owners of a large Victorian mansion in Philadelphia, the Brookses were ready for a move. “I knew this was what I wanted to do,” said Ivy Brooks, who can use her talents as cook, seamstress and decorator to her heart’s content.

Their search turned upward and inland, away from the hurricane-ravaged Atlantic coast of the South.

“We kept exploring New England, looking for a four-season location,” she said. They quickly abandoned the coast, said Ivy, “because B&Bs there were selling for $100,000 a bedroom.”

When they saw the Brewster Inn listed in a historical preservation magazine, they knew it was perfect for them. “It’s such a gorgeous house,” said Ivy Brooks.

Inside, the bedrooms, each with its own bath, provide a variety for guests, everything from the large, lodgelike Game Room, to the more intimate, flowery Garden Room. The Honeymoon Suite comes with a whirlpool tub and a separate sitting room and fireplace. Outside, there are two tennis courts, one clay, one grass, volleyball and croquet. The patchwork of gardens and grass, grape arbors and a tiny pond provide plenty of quiet space to have a talk or to read.

Located in the near center of Maine, the Brewster Inn is less than an hour’s drive from Borestone Mountain, Moosehead Lake, Mount Kineo, Bangor and the coast.

“We’re away from the crowds but close enough to the ocean that guests can make day trips,” said Ivy Brooks. The Brewster Inn is also less than 100 feet from an ITS trail used by thousands of snowmobilers in the winter.

The Brookses can be reached for reservations at 924-3130 or by e-mail at brewster@nconline.net.

They also have a Web page, www.bbonline.com/me/brewsterinn.