Come on in

GOSHEN - An 18th-century farmhouse, a 19th-century Victorian, a Civil War-era estate mansion, and a 20-year-old solar-heated house are all part of the Goshen mosaic. They are among the nine houses that opened their doors to the public last weekend in a benefit for the Elant Foundation, which operates the Glen Arden retirement community. "We like to give a variety," said Goshen interior designer Marge Scollard, chair of the Elant house tour committee, about researching the houses. "Some of them are more grand than others, but that isn't really the name of the game." One of the nine stops on the tour is a Glen Arden unit designed by Scollard. Much work has been invested in these houses, with perhaps the most daunting renovations yet to be done on the Berryhill home on Old Chester Road. The five-bedroom house was built in 1868 and remodeled in 1929, and was a working farm for many years. The original owner is thought to be General Henry L. Burnett, a lawyer who in 1865 was appointed to the three-member prosecution team of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. The house was afterward purchased by the family that owned the Westinghouse Corporation. One of the Westinghouse daughters lived in the house and another daughter lived across the street. Walls have been stripped and renovations ns are planned. "I never use an interior designer," said one of the owners, New York City psychiatrist Mariano Nevarez-Tapia. "I do everything myself. I hire people." On South Street is a "Carpenter Gothic Victorian" built in 1886. Dave and Sue Charity bought it from the Parker family in 1981. "My whole time growing up they were stripping the woodwork," remembers their grown son Adam Charity. Sue Charity said, "We kept it true to its Victorian clutter, and we're happy. It's homey." Getting ready for the house tour "sort of forced us into getting spruced up a bit." Back at Glen Arden, people were talking about Betsy Dunlevy's gardens outside her home on Oak Crest Drive. Betsey's daughter Kate, 13, said her mother did most of the landscaping herself, on land that was once a potato farm. "The house has a sort of circular pattern going on," Dunlevy told visitors. "I love the light." She said someone on the Elant board approached her to include her house on the tour. "It was very flattering to know that somebody thought it was worthy of showing," she said. "I have always thought it was pretty remarkable. I was happy to do it." The wall and furniture murals in the house are by Goshen decorative artist Robin Knoblock. And the house is equipped for solar heating. A colonial farmhouse on Old Chester Road, the original structure dating from the mid-1700s has six fireplaces, including one in the kitchen hidden behind a wall until the current owners tore the wall down. Geri Corey said her husband realized there was something behind there. "We came back from the closing and we pulled it off," she said. Other surprises awaited. They broke through another wall, finding stairs. "We think they were for farm hands," Corey said. This was the Elant Foundation's third annual spring house tour. Elant development officer Paul Scire said this year's turnout, at $30 a ticket, was as good as last year's. Elant is a not-for-profit foundation that manages programs for senior citizens and the chronically ill. House tour sponsors include Adams Fairacre Farms in Newburgh, Goshen Florist, Holbert's Catering in Montgomery, James Murray Florist Inc. in Goshen, Joe's Greenhouses in New Hampton, and Tom's Greenhouse in Goshen.