"The only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it."—Edith Wharton
David Dashiell The Mount, novelist Edith Wharton's estate and gardens in Lenox, MA, is fighting for its survival. The not-for-profit's board must raise $3 million by March 24 to keep the bank from initiating foreclosure proceedings on the property, which is a National Historic Landmark and a major Berkshires tourist attraction. As reported last Saturday by The New York Times and the Berkshire Eagle, the Mount missed a $30,000 mortgage payment in February that precipitated the financial crisis. "People ask me, Why can't you just raise $30,000 a month, but it actually costs $100,000 a month to operate the Mount," says executive director Stephanie Copeland. She told Rural Intelligence that six of the 11 full-time staffers have been laid off, and everyone who is left is devoting all their time to fund-raising. "The bank wants to know that we are a good prospect going forward. We are reaching out to our list of 9,000 people around the world who are friends of The Mount." These friends are being told that their donations will be returned if the campaign is unsuccessful. "Any contribution that is made, be it by check or credit card, will not be processed unless the bank agrees to a restructuring," says Copeland. "To save postage we won't return the checks but we'll rip them up." The Mount has been praised for the meticulous restoration of its formal garden. It was featured as a top-notch example of historic preservation on Bob Vila's Home Again. But some critics suggest that the Mount's financial problems reflect the institution's identity crisis. Although it hosts lectures, symposiums and other cultural events, it is not now nor are there plans for it to become a full-fledged house museum. Visitors are often disappointed to find that the drawing room and dining room are typical designer show house rooms by New York City society decorators Charlotte Moss and Bunny Williams. There are plans to recreate Wharton's world in only two rooms. "We have no original furniture, and the rooms that will be furnished to look as they did in Wharton's time will be her bedroom suite where she wrote and her library," explains Copeland. "The other rooms, since we have none of her original furnishings, are dedicated to interpreting Wharton's influence on interior design by having decorators demonstrate her influence on their art." Wharton was, of course, the author, with Odgen Codman Jr, of the seminal 1897 design book The Decoration of Houses. "This season, we hope to celebrate French design and have an all new decorator installation," says Copeland. '"But that of course depends on the success of the Save the Mount campaign."
