The Legacy of Henry Uihlein: farming success in the Adirondacks
The following is from the June 13, 2025 edition of the Adirondack Explorer. See it on their webpage here.
Historic Heaven Hill property to become working research farm
By Tim Rowland
Storied Adirondackers — including early pioneer Horatio Hinkley, the abolitionist John Brown, Lyman Epps, a Black homesteader, the wealthy Philadelphian Anna Newman, Schlitz brewing scion and sportsman Henry Uihlein II and researchers for Cornell University — all made a go of lands Brown referred to as the Plains of Abraham.
Uihlein died in 1997 at the age of 101 and transferred his Heaven Hill Farm, including more than 1,300 acres of field and forest, to what would become the philanthropic Uihlein Foundation, which each year financially supports causes near to the heart of Henry and his wife Mildred.
As the foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary over the weekend, it also announced plans to return 300 acres of fallow fields at Heaven Hill to their agricultural roots by establishing a working research farm open to schools and the public to better connect people to their food sources and principles of conservation.
The idea remains consistent with the life of Henry Uihlein, who laid out the general directives for the foundation, but — understanding that times change — made them adaptable to meet contemporary needs. Agriculture was something he took seriously.
“Henry was more than a gentleman farmer,” said Erica Burns, an educator and farmer in Keene who pitched the idea to the foundation. “He had an internationally famous herd of Jersey cows and grew crops as well.”
Curiously, the land had an educational and farm-to-table component dating back more than a century, when the Lake Placid Club needed a dependable supply of food.
“The Lake Placid Club purchased those farms to feed their guests, and then Henry purchased that property from the Lake Placid Club,” Burns said. “There was an agreement that the club would buy their milk from Henry, and that guests of the club would always be able to come see where their food was coming from. Way back then he believed that they should be able to do that.”
When Burns looks at those same fields today, she envisions animals grazing and crops growing as school students and the public see agricultural production first hand. The farm would be home to research that will support local farmers and foster conservation efforts, such as grassland bird conservation.
The entrance for Heaven Hill Farm. Photo by Tim Rowland
Bringing food, conservation together at Uihlein Farm
A couple of developments made Burns’ idea attractive, said Jim McKenna, CEO of the Uihlein Foundation. In 2020, Cornell shut down its potato farm, and the community held its breath to see what would happen to the open fields with their million-dollar views of the High Peaks and surrounding mountains. In the end, Cornell — which had been given the land by Henry Uihlein for free — gave it back to the foundation. At the same time, Uihlein was considering its own future.
“We realized about two years ago that the land is our best asset, so the question became, how can we now implement Henry’s guidelines and get partnerships with other similar organizations moving forward,” McKenna said.
While it will continue its charitable donations and the partnerships it has cultivated over the years, McKenna said Uihlein is changing its status with the IRS from a private foundation to a private operating foundation, the difference being an emphasis on programming.
“What we’re envisioning as we move forward is to develop some programs and processes where we can get into the agriculture and agriculture research that Henry identified, while serving as a resource for the region,” he said. “Maybe we can do things to help local farmers, and we’re also thinking about educational purposes and also feeding the locals again.”
