UPTON — The Upton House inn on Route 26 is about to open, just in time for the town’s sesquicentennial.

Work on the c. 1886 Douglass farm began three years ago. Slowly, Charlotte Dominique and Bob Pepler, with the help of local tradesmen, has transformed the three-story former farmhouse into a charming and elegant inn.

“I’m glad the work has finally come to an end,” Pepler said. Now, the couple are looking forward to hosting guests, such as snowmobilers, a sport that brought them to the Upton area for 20 years from their home in Rhode Island.

A few years ago, Pepler, a retired United Parcel Service employee, began spending more time here and while Dominique came primarily during the summers and vacations. This year, she retired after 38 years as an English teacher at Mount St. Charles Academy in Woonsocket, R.I., and is now officially the 64th resident of Upton.

The couple has completed the renovation of two themed bedrooms — a bright white and blue nautical room and a muted pastel Native American room with a cowhide as a rug. Each has its own bathroom.

Two more guest rooms — the Celtic and the Chickadee — are expected to be completed within a couple of weeks. These rooms share one bathroom.

Dominique has scoured yard sales and antique shops looking for furniture and accessories for each of the rooms.

The Upton House isn’t a bed and breakfast, Dominique said, because they aren’t licensed to serve food. However, they can take orders from guests and pick up meals from the nearby Bull Moose Restaurant & Lounge and campground a mile away in Errol, N.H. Guests may also bring their own food. A refrigerator and microwave are available for guest use in the common room. Coffee will be available.

The official opening date is Aug. 15, and the inn will be one of the historic places in Upton that will host an open house during the Aug. 21 sesquicentennial.

With numerous outdoor activities and adventures available to visitors of Upton, Dominique is putting together packets of information on such places as Umbagog Lake, Table Rock, Moose Falls, Dunn Falls, Screw Auger Falls, and the snowmobile trails. One of those trails is behind the inn. An Appalachian Trail entrance is six miles from the inn off the East B Hill Road.

Pepler said advertising has begun through the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce, and soon, the Errol Chamber of Commerce.

The Upton House is in the center of the village on Route 26. Contact numbers are 533-2064 and 533-2081, fax.

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