We took a visit into the town and came across the Chapel of the Holy Cross. Its a Catholic church built into the side of a mountain. A very impressive structure with an interesting history on how it came to be there.

The unique architecture and location of the Chapel of the Holy Cross are the inspirations of Marguerite Bruswig Staude, who went on a trip to New York City  in 1932. She observed that a cross could be seen in the newly constructed Empire State Building when viewed from a certain angle, and was inspired to built a church based on that design.

Staude kept an eye out all over Europe and the USA for the ideal location, and she was especially struck by the beauty of Sedona. She decided to build her chapel here, which would be “a monument to faith, but a spiritual fortress so charged with God, that it spurs man’s spirit godward.” The Chapel of the Holy Cross was completed in April 1956.

Heres the view from the back of the church in the mountain. It doesn’t look so big when your up there. Its a good long walk to get to the church unless you want to take the car and wait in line for a space further up.

When you get to the church and go to the front, look down and you will see a really strange place below you to your right. Its someones home, thing is theres numerous ideas on whos house it is. Its a little bit over the top?

It appears the house is owned by one of two people, either  by the Dr. who invented the laser for Lasik eye surgery from Romania or i believe another doctor from India that has invented numerous medical products. This blog tells more on the property. These  pics have been taken by someone who got in the house and i have to say it look pretty vulgar.

Sedona was nice, well worth a visit. After stopping for an excellent lunch in town we happened to see this sign below. It raised a laugh

Flying out of Boston, we headed to Phoenix to stay with guest friends related to the Brewster family. When we reached Houston,  for some reason i was convinced we were still going to be in central time, and then it wasn’t until we were on the plane ready to go onto Phoenix where the captain said “and todays flight will be 2hrs 45min” and i turn to the lady next to me, slightly confused as i thought it was a hour flight and asked her, “excuse me but is this plane going to Phoenix?” Have you ever thought you’ve actually been on the wrong plane?

Once we’d got over that bit of excitement the flight was uneventful but the scenery was amazing. Like flying over a lunar landscape. Rocks, craters and mountains everywhere inc snow on the highest peaks.. in AZ? Flying into Sky Harbor airport you drop in over the mountains and then straight into Phoenix. Seems odd to see this major city in the middle of nowhere.

The 2 days we were there were good. Had the chance to explore a little going to Sedona and Jerome. Interesting places that are well worth a visit.

Jerome is a town that at one time was the 4th largest community in Arizona and then fell to the bottom of the list when the copper mines closed. The community was incorporated in 1899 following four disastrous fires that destroyed large sections of what was once known as “the wickedest town in the west.” So much history and ghostly goings on, its a town that has plenty to see and do

More on Jerome, history and what to see and do here

Sedona is a very pretty town too with some amazing scenery and buildings inc one really odd one that i’ll explain more about in my next post

We’ve still been up to a lot here at the Brewster Inn. Last Nov we had a third of the roof replaced. The slate could just not be repaired anymore and this year the final two thirds will be done. AND after 3 years of saving up for it, we were at last able to completly change the heating system here and go from the old inefficient steam system of 2 40gall boilers and  which had just 3 thermostats controlling the entire 7800 sq ft inn to the most energy efficient hot water system we could.

Now we have 2 very energy efficent 4 gall (yes 4 gall) boilers and wait for it…. 17 (yes seventeen!!) thermostats still being able to use all the old radiators too. It was a long time coming but now we have total control guest comfort here at the Brewster Inn. We also added 2 big propane stoves into the Honeymoon Suite and Game room and the whole project took 8 weeks for local oil company AE Robinson to install. Our oil intake is still going down with the new system working. We’re really pleased.

Check out the Game room pics from the Brewster Inn website to see the new stoves

Summer and Autumn bookings are looking good again for this year already. 2009 was our best year yet and i’m sure we’ll have another great year again in 2010.

For all my loyal blog subscribers and readers, if your thinking of a trip back up to see us this year, just mention that you read this blog article and we will work you out a deal on your next stay at the Brewster Inn Dexter Maine to give you great value for money and an excuse to come and see us for sight seeing, outdoor sports, moose watching, white water rafting, kayaking, hiking, biking, you name it and you can do it all with ease here at the Brewster Inn. Check out our concierge section right here

Also we’ve added massage and spa services now either available here with advance bookings or at a great health and beauty spa about 25min away called Wavelengths

Want to get fit? Stay at the Brewster Inn and get 24hrs a day gym membership at Millside Fitness just a 2 min walk away for just $5 a day! Excellent value for money! I know as i’m a member and lost 40lbs in 5 months!

Next issue coming up soon all about GOATSCHOOL!

The Brewster Inn is pleased to announce that we will be running all the same snowmobile special offers that we did very successfully last year. Come and stay at the Brewster Inn with great bed and breakfast accommodation from as little as $34.75 per person per night inc breakfast, great rooms with dvd players and wi-fi. All rooms have their own bathrooms. And NEW this year ALL rooms have their own climate control thermostats for total guest comfort. This will appear on another blog post soon or if you check in on us via our Facebook fan page you’ll already see all the big new additions we have here right now

Check out our snowmobile specific brochure here. Its double sided as we also are a business sponsor of our local club in Dexter Wassokeag Snowmobile Club and their info is all on the back of the brochure. The brochure is also viewable on the bottom of this blog post.

All our current Brewster Inn Specials are here

Located just off Rt 7 in Dexter, 20 mins from exit 157 on I-95, we’re right on the trail for ITS 85 that takes you up to Greenville, Jackman, Millinocket and the North Country.

Trail maps are available from both the Wassookeag snowmobile club and Brewster Inn websites

On Presidents Day  weekend  12/13/14 Feb we have the Dexter Winter Festival. Full info is available from the Wassookeag snowmobile club website. Come and enjoy a great weekend of snowmobiling and winter fun that weekend here in Dexter.

The Brewster Inn is also a proud sponsor of Pine Tree Camp that is a summer camp for children and adults with physical and/or developmental disabilities and that snowmobilers throughout Maine are proud to support and we are also very happy to be members of the Maine Snowmobile Assoc

I’m at a big social media seminar in Portland this week where the secrets of how to do all this and do it better, i hope will be explained. In fact Flyte Media running the seminar love the book “social media, an hour a day”! Which hour would you like? 24th? 25th? 26th? LOL

Anyway, thats enough of all that, whats been going on here since i last blogged…

Well we have a fantastic Facebook fan page right here that really seems to of taken on a life of its own… 242 fans and counting!! Whoohoo! Click the link, then click “become a fan” and keep up to date with all that we’re up to. Lots of pics and soon to have video too.

We’ve started tweeting on Twitter and i think when i get back from the seminar i’ll know more to get that started properly. Heres the link  Twitter and search for BrewsterInn and thats where you’ll find us

Laura our guest “that never left” from CT has been up to redo 2 more rooms. The Hideaway and Fern rooms have now changed and the Hideaway looks great.

Its our seaside theme and looks so much better than how it used to look. Its part of the old 3 car garage.

The Fern room (our handicapped accessible room) is still being finished but already looks better. When we get the official pics, i’ll post them here.

Next on Lauras list and starting tomorrow (21/9) is the Game room, one of the big wood paneled rooms is going to be upgraded and have additions. The rooms a great room but we’re just going to make it better with pics to follow soon.

Outside the garden has been worked on a lot this summer. Its changed so much. All the pics and info are on our Facebook fan page but heres a few for a taster

The 2 big trees at the back in the pic  below will be coming down in a week or so by an arborist. Both the trees have turkey tail fungus and big splits in them so its time to bring them down before they come down on their own

And the bark mulch that we’ll have when we chip up as much of these 2 trees as we can, as well as being used for landscaping will be put under under the 2 trees below at one of the main entrances. Combine that with a new and fancy postbox and maybe a nice seat under the trees and it will look great!

We also in 2010 plan to start to bring the lilac hedges back to the Brewster Inn from when the Governor lived here. Thats one thing that a lot of people that used to live in the town that come and stay say, that they always used to be able to smell the lilacs round town, well we plan  for that to happen once again.

Business has been excellent again this year and each year just seems to get better and better. So many guests keep coming back along with new guests and it really does make it all worthwhile. The house will soon be pretty much repaired throughout hopefully by the year  end and when the trains running again round the walk thru conservatory, the house is fixed! Until we have the next idea anyway… like the best ways to heat this place in the winter which we’re pondering right now. Thinking of zoning all the rooms with their own thermostats as we’ve had enough of the system in its present form where you have to heat the whole 8000 sq ft even if you just have 3 rooms sold

Till next time!

First of all we finally got the YouTube together of our appearance on national tv on HGTV that aired in June 2008. Here it is and when you hit “play”, fast forward about 2.37 to find our bit. We like it and hope you will too. It was fun to do.

 Its been a great winter for us and business has been excellent. Snowmobilers are one group that we market towards as we’re right by the trail for ITS 85 which takes you up towards Greenville, Jackman, Millinocket and the North Country. We have become business sponsors of a big charity in Maine that helps the handicapped called Pine Tree Camp This is a charity that a lot of snowmobile clubs in the State support and just 4 months into the year more than $121,000 has been raised that will benefit this very worthwhile cause from various fund raising events.

The second part of today’s blog is all about social media. This is a fast developing medium that is available to us in so many ways to help publicise the inn and to make us more successful in what we do here, bringing more people into this beautiful part of Maine.

Facebook is one way that we promote ourselves and what we do here at the Brewster Inn.
On Facebook we have our official page that you will find if you search for “Brewster Inn Dexter Maine” which has info, loads of photos and brochures (as well as they can display them) and we’d love it if you’re on Facebook and clicked “become a fan”. If you have stayed before, we’d love you to become a fan too and keep up to date with us and our regular updates with what’s happening in Dexter Maine until we see you again the next time in the future.

Also I have my own page on Facebook and if you search for “Brewster Inn Dexter” that’s where you find me, “become a friend” and see what I’m up to in my everyday life running our unique, special and very historic Inn.

The idea is that if you haven’t stayed before, you’ll learn so much more about us before you get here, and for you and our returning guests it will be like friends meeting up again. It works very well as we have a lot of guests on both pages

We hope very much that you would like to join us.

See you again soon with a post all about a new marketing idea we’re working on

The snow is plentiful right now and so come and stay at the Brewster Inn for as little as  $34.75 per person per night based on 4 sharing. Or from $39.50 per night based on 2 sharing. All prices plus tax and include breakfast. Use our winter specials, stay for 2 nights or more and stay for even less!

Located just off Rt 7 in Dexter, 20 mins from exit 157 on I-95, we’re right on the trail for ITS 85 that takes you up to Greenville, Jackman, Millinocket and the North Country.

Below is our new  brochure aimed right at the snowmobilers. We work closely with the local Dexter club Wassookeag Snowmobile Club and on the back of the brochure you’ll see all their info there as well as on the homepage at the Brewster Inn.

Trail maps are available from both the Wassookeag snowmobile club and Brewster Inn websites

Just as in my last blog posting, this brochure is also available on our website or we’d be very happy to post one out for people that call us  on 207 924 3130.

On the weekend of 13/14/15 Feb we have the Dexter Winter Festival. Full info is available from the Wassookeag snowmobile club website. Come and enjoy a great weekend of snowmobiling and winter fun that weekend here in Dexter.

See our new snowmobile brochure at the bottom of this post.

Below are pics of snowmobilers that we already get here. We have plenty of accomodation and parking and great value for money! We can accomodate groups with ease here at the Brewster Inn.

We’re busy marketing towards more winter and spring business at the minute and its working well.

We have new brochures just printed which will start to find their way out and about in the coming days all designed by my excellent designer Kim!

I think i’ve shown these first products before but they’re worth showing again..

Our 9×4 rack card that goes into all the tourist information centres in the State as well as various other establishments. It will soon be reprinted with some new photos due to the room changes that we’ve made but the wordage will stay as is

Our “Thank You” card that we send out to guests when they leave after a stay. We sell these too at 5 for $8 or $2 each. They’re blank inside and can be used for all occassions. On the front they have a beautiful painting of the house and on the back theres an image of our sign and a brief history of the Brewster

Next we have our Scrapbooking and Craft brochure that is aimed at groups of artisans and crafters who want to get away from their normal lives and come to the Brewster and work on their scrapbooks, quilts, beading or whatever their skill maybe and either just stay for a few hours, a day and night or a weekend. Various packages all inc food and lodging are available on request. These brochures are also available on www.brewsterinn.com or by giving us a call and we’d be very happy to mail one out to you.

We’ve already done a few of these events and they work really well and we love doing them here

Check out our new snowmobile brochure on the next page!

The Brewster Inn is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a former Maine Governor and Government Senators family home.  A portrayal of this family is seen in the Golden Globe award winning movie “The Aviator” starring Leonardo De Caprio (as Howard Hughes) and Alan Alda (as senator Ralph Owen Brewster).  In June 2008 we were showcased on national TV on HGTV “If Walls Could Talk” due to the many famous people that have been here over the years Inc Presidents, Senators and other well known figures.  We are proud to be part of such fascinating history!

We exhibited at a big bridal show in Bangor ME last Sunday and came away with 14 very good enquiries.  We’d certainly like to convert as many of those as we can over the next 2 years into very special wedding events.

Why should people get married at the Brewster Inn?

The uniqueness of the home and gardens as described above.  We don’t have your typical wedding venue which in a lot of cases is a brick conference centre surrounded by tarmac car park where they may do 2 weddings in 2 separate halls side by side at the same time, or tell you that you have a time slot between 11 and 3 but you must all be gone by 3.30 so that they can get ready for the next wedding that’s on from 5 to 9.  No, what we do is give you the whole property and gardens for the day.  It’s yours to enjoy for the best day of your life.

We have 10 guest rooms which can accommodate as many as 37 people and range from expansive to cosy, all offering a distinct personality. Each has a private bath, quality mattresses, AC, cable TV, DVD players with an excellent selection of movies for all ages. Some feature king size beds, fireplaces, original wood panelling, window seats and original tiled bathrooms. Others offer a view of the gardens or a whirlpool bath for 2. One handicapped accessible guestroom is also available. WI-FI is available throughout the Inn.

We have 2.5 acres of gardens in which we can put very large tents to hold your wedding and assure you privacy at all times due to the trees and bushes around the property line.  With the various ornamental structures in our gardens there are so many opportunities for the perfect spot in which to get married and to have your photographs taken which will hold your wedding memories forever.

We do things a little differently here.  We like to think of ourselves as being flexible where we don’t tell you which photographer, florist or caterer you’ll use.  Of course we have recommendations but you can choose.  We’re not “fussy” either so you can pretty much do what you like to make your day the best ever.

As for the cost for the your event here, we know we work out very well on price too so there’s another big reason to have your special day here

For people coming longer distance and looking for a mini vacation whilst at your wedding, our location is pretty much the geographical centre point of Maine hence the term we use “Destination Dexter”.
Guests base their vacation here at the Brewster Inn and this provides them with the perfect point in which to enjoy their Maine vacation where everything is within easy reach.  Destinations such as Moosehead Lake 1 hour drive (38 miles), Camden 1 hour and 42 minute drive (67 miles), Bar Harbor 2 hour drive (87 miles), Freeport and LLBean 1 hour and 40 minute drive (99 miles), Portland 2 hour drive (115 miles), Canada (3 hours).

Take a look at our wedding page and some of the weddings we’ve done with our slideshow

Slideshow

Brewster Inn tour

Brewster Inn wedding page