DIXFIELD – Sammie Angel knew she wanted to come home. She also knew she wanted to start a restaurant that would reflect the atmosphere and flavors of her home state.

On Friday, that goal will be accomplished when The Front Porch Café opens at the corner of Hall Hill Road and Route 2, in a nearly 200-year-old home steeped in history.

“I was missing my family,” she said this week as she, her husband Clinton Bailey, and friends were putting the last touches on the dining room and porch of the former Phoebe Stowell house for its opening. The barn had once been the site of a grist mill, and the garage once served as the crypt for the adjacent Eustis Cemetery.

She’d been in Florida for many years, singing her country and gospel music in clubs, nursing homes and other venues. She returned to Maine nearly two years ago.

“I always knew it would be The Front Porch Café because of Maine and the feeling of rocking on a porch. I honestly believe God sent me to this house,” she said. “I had wanted an old house. I was raised in one on Route 156 in Wilton. When I saw this house, I fell in love with it.”

Bailey, from Amarillo, Texas, has years of experience cooking in restaurants and will be the chef. Trish Long will be the server and Angel will do everything else.

All the decorations in the 26-seat dining room hold some meaning or sentiment. The paintings and photographs were gifts from people important in Angel’s life. A centerpiece is a multi-medium collage depicting a red farmhouse and barn that had once been owned by Angel’s grandmother. Fireplaces were installed at both ends of the room.

Even some of the everyday necessities for opening a restaurant were found the Maine way – through answering ads in Uncle Henry’s.

And the bathroom is an adventure unto itself. Decorated with a half-moon on the exterior door, the inside displays collections of miniature outhouses and Willow Tree figurines, words of wisdom adorn the walls, and the pumpkin pine wainscoting was taken from one of the home’s floors.

The past 19 months have been devoted to renovating the front portion of the home into a dining room, which had previously been two parlors, creating a commercial kitchen, fixing up the porch, decorating, and attending to the seemingly endless number of tasks required for opening a business.

Dozens of friends and family have helped, with former Selectman Hugh Daley assisting along the way, Bailey said.

“The town has been so supportive of this,” said Angel, a 1976 graduate of Mt. Blue High School.

For the next few months, the new enterprise will serve breakfast and lunch, both inside the restaurant and as take-out. Private party reservations will be taken for evenings. Some of the offerings have such historic and site-specific names as “The Bullrock,” “The Phoebe,” “The Rocking Chair,” “The Saw Mill,” and “The Liberty Stanley.”

The restaurant and porch are handicap-accessible.

Once the kinks are worked out and the business is running smoothly, Angel and Bailey hope to open for dinner, with a focus on traditional Maine, family-style meals such as pot roast and mashed potatoes and shepherd’s pie. Bailey plans to use locally produced vegetables and fresh Maine maple syrup.

For the next few months, the hours will be Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 4:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturdays 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sundays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those wishing to book private evening events should call 562-4646.