Angela Reynolds might as well be showing off her own home as she leads a tour of the newly reopened, Victorian-era Atlantic Hotel in the historic town of Berlin, Md. She fluffs already fluffed pillows, straightens barely crooked drapes and refolds not-quite-perfectly-folded towels.

Reynolds, who has been in charge of restoring three other historic hotels, knows that the devil is in the details but also that details make the inn. She points out cut-glass perfume bottles on an antique washstand's marble shelves. She shows off newly purchased $1,500 iron beds made by the same company that first manufactured them in 1855. She enters the inn's restaurant and recounts the heated discussions about paint colors. She proudly describes how guests all want to take photos of the room where Julia Roberts stood on the ledge in the film Runaway Bride.

The 114-year-old hotel, smack in the middle of Berlin, has served as the town's hub since a group of local business owners got together to buy and renovate the then-crumbling building more than 20 years ago.

``The hotel is the town's anchor,'' said Patricia Fischer, president of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce. ``If nothing else, people were drawn there, just to sit on the front-porch rocking chairs and watch the world go by.''

That quiet harmony came to a sudden halt in January, when the hotel's operators suddenly closed the doors.

Enter John Fager, owner of Fager's Island, one of nearby Ocean City's best-known restaurants, and two adjacent boutique hotels.

``When it closed suddenly, it laid everybody low,'' Fager said. So Fager called one of the owners, saying simply, ``The hotel can't stay closed.''

Soon moving vans filled with the hotel's antiques, which had been hauled away by the previous operators, were being unloaded into Fager's newest venture.

The previous operators' contemporary imprints were erased. Hardwood floors stripped pale were redone in rich mahogany stain. Thick, antique-style curtains were added to the restaurant's windows.

Reynolds scoured area antiques shops in search of just-right accent pieces. But modern touches, including flat-screen TVs and 300-thread-count cotton linens, are part of the mix.

In the dining room, well-known local chef Leo D'Aleo developed a new menu that draws on local ingredients, such as Smith Island crabmeat and vegetables from the farmers market down the block.

• The Atlantic Hotel (2 N. Main St., 410-641-3589, www.atlantichotel.com), has 17 rooms, an apartment and a small cottage. Rates are $155-$320 weekends in August, $145-$305 in September and $135-$295 in October.