October climax set for The Mount - Berkshire Eagle Online

• By Benning W. De La Mater, Berkshire Eagle Staff

  Article Last Updated: 05/14/2008 03:00:18 AM EDT

• LENOX — An agreement between The Mount and its creditors has staved off foreclosure and a May 31 deadline that would have forced Edith Wharton Restoration Inc. to raise $3 million by the end of the month.

• Instead, the historic home of the Gilded Age writer will be open to the public all summer without a threat of foreclosure by Berkshire Bank. The new fundraising deadline has been set for Oct. 31.

• The Mount owes a total of nearly $9 million to its creditors, which also includes another bank and two individuals. More than $875,000 has been raised during its emergency “Save the Mount” fundraising campaign, and $240,000 of that money has come within the past month or so.

• “This relieves us of the month-to-month burden,” Travers said. “It’s a long window to raise the funds, but there’s no guarantee that we will be able to raise this money. It does give us time, though.”