Group gets foreclosure extension on Wharton estate

The organization that owns the Mount, Edith Wharton's famous Lenox estate (left), has been given more time to raise $3 million to avoid foreclosure.

Sandra Boss, the Mount's chairman, said yesterday that the estate's major creditor has extended the deadline for a second month, until May 31. The group said it has raised $800,000 in its emergency campaign, including $240,000 in the past 30 days.

The group said it has also received other donations, including $25,000 from former Walt Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner and his wife, Jane, to get ready for the 2008 season. The Mount, which gets about 30,000 visitors a year, will open to the public for the season May 9.

Wharton (right) designed and built the house in 1902. She finished her breakthrough novel, "The House of Mirth," there, and got the inspiration for "Ethan Frome." (AP)