HEBRON – When Robert Bryant showed Daryel Duhaime the house atop Greenwood Mountain Road, Duhaime was a little skeptical.

The two-story building, infested with rats and spiders, looked more like a haunted house than a habitable abode. Compounding the scene was the gloomy weather, which blocked out the view of the White Mountains.

The real estate agent was not with them. She’d told them to let themselves in, since the back door was missing.

Bryant knew restoring the building would be a challenge, but he had grown up in neighboring West Minot village and was familiar with the natural beauty in the area.

“I always wanted to live up here,” he said.

Bryant and Duhaime’s initial bid on the property in the summer of 2005 was declined. In August, the real estate company called and said it would entertain their offer. They closed the deal in September.

For the price of $120,000, they were the proud owners of a house in serious disrepair.

Bryant and Duhaime, domestic partners, recognized that it would be more cost-efficient to destroy the house and build a new one than it would be to renovate it.

“We could easily have torn it down,” Bryant said, “or given it to the fire department to burn down.”

Nevertheless, the building’s frame was solid, and they wanted to preserve it.

“We saw an opportunity to bring something back to life,” Bryant said.

Part of this decision came from the house’s historical tie-in to the Western Maine Sanitorium, which used to operate nearby. The sanitorium served as a treatment facility for those with tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.

Bryant and Duhaime say the building was never used to house patients, but that the bedrooms on the second floor once housed some of the sanitorium’s staff. They have been told that nurses from Nova Scotia, who would receive their accreditation in infectious diseases from the facility, stayed in the house.

Working with the Hebron Historical Society, the couple traced the building’s owners back to around 1897. They believe the first owner was Horace Eugene Verrill, as his name appears on the back of the wainscoting.

The renovation cost more than $220,000. It involved the repair or replacement of everything from the foundation to the lightning rods.

They wanted to keep the interior as true to its original form as possible so the restored the original floors, with the exception of the kitchen, and paint was stripped from the wainscoting.

“The only thing we didn’t have to do in terms of new house construction was put in a well,” Bryant said.

The kitchen required some of the most extensive work, especially after their decision to turn the property into a bed and breakfast about six months into the process. It needed to be big enough to act as a focal point of the house and facilitate cooking and baking.

Bryant’s parents had been the first to suggest the idea of buying the house to him. Bryant’s father provided valuable guidance in terms of advice as well as physical assistance during the renovation, but his health was failing.

“We really wanted to get this project done before he passed away,” Bryant said.

Bryant’s father was present at his wife’s 80th birthday party, held at the house. It was mostly renovated by that time.

A cold storage room and two bedrooms have been converted to bathrooms, and a bathroom converted to a laundry room. Six bedrooms retain their original function, and have been named after towns in the county. The attic has been converted into two suites, named after Hebron and Oxford.

Bryant currently lives in one of the suites, but hopes to move out by May.

The Greenwood Mountain Inn bed and breakfast has been in operation since January.

With the exception of minor work, the inn’s renovation is complete. The project, however, is not. A three-car garage with space for events and exercise equipment is being constructed nearby. Bryant and Duhaime also hope to add a gazebo with a hot tub and three-season glass house off the dining room.

“Eventually we would like to invite the public in to have breakfast,” Duhaime said. The inn is only licensed to serve guests, but has gotten requests from locals for Bryant and Duhaime’s homemade goods.

One of the smaller additions to the house is perhaps one of the most noticeable. Electric candles have been placed in the windows, and Duhaime says that, at night, they are visible as far away as Oxford.

“It lets people know that the house has life again,” he said.