Program areas at Henry Uihlein Ii and Mildred A Uihlein Foundation
The Foundation's founder, Henry Uihlein, directed that, if possible, his property not be turned into A commercial or residential development. Accordingly, the Foundation has renovated and restored his rather extensive farmhouse and holds it available to local not-for-profit organizations as A venue for meetings, seminars, retreats, and fund-raisers. An updated (but not "commercial") kitchen is available along with fiber-supported wi-fi. The building usually sees about 3,000 visitors A year. In 2021, the building reopened in june and saw about 1,050 visitors during the remainder of the year. In 2022 the number increased to about 2,000. The year 2023 saw about 2,500 visitors.
In 2020 the Foundation took title to approximately 454 acres of farmland directly across bear cub lane from heaven hill. This land was gifted to cornell university in the early '60s by Henry Uihlein for use in seed potato research. Cornell discontinued the research project and turned the property (including A lab building and A large storehouse) over to the Foundation. The Foundation's intent is to make the space available at no charge to not-for-profits for their offices. To that end, the Foundation has invested about $1.5 million in re-purposing A 6,800 square foot potato warehouse into usable office space as well as upgrading electrical service, water and sewer. The warehouse, now A fully functional office building, was the headquarters for the world university games (A 'winter olympics' for universities - 46 universities from all over the world participated) in january 2023. The games were A success and the Foundation continues to invest in improvement and upgrades to the property.
The Foundation has developed about eleven miles of walking/hiking/cross-country ski trails that are extensively used year-round by local residents and visitors. The covid lockdown spurred even more usage. Guesstimates put total usage over the year in six figures. Henry's woods lies at the eastern end of the property and consists of several heavily engineered trials of light to moderate difficulty and breath-taking views from lookouts higher up the hill. Heaven hill trails, including old orchard trail, are located on relatively flat terrain at the western end of the property. All trails are well marked. Recent acquisition of adjacent property formerly used for potato research has prompted A halt to further trail development pending the completion of A comprehensive plan for the trail system.