Conservancy for Healing and Heritage

Welcome to the Conservancy 

Located in Franklin, WI,  the Conservancy for Healing and Heritage is a 36-acre parcel of land in southeastern Wisconsin that features a rare combination of ecosystems. This unique piece of land is Milwaukee County’s only kettle and glacier lake. And for the first time ever, it will be open free to the public.   

We are protecting this natural habitat while creating shared spaces for comfort, inspiration, healing and education. The Nature Trails, Healing Garden, Healing Chapel in the Woods, and Kopmeier Lake are surrounded by forestland with a history leading back to the settlement of greater Milwaukee in the 19th century.  The lake is flanked by a steep glacial moraine covered in mesic hardwoods. The forest floor is alive with wildflowers in the spring and mushrooms in the fall. 

Stay awhile - relax, rejuvenate, restore.  

The land was born of the Ice Age. Carved by glaciers that created a steep gravel ridge which then retreated, leaving behind an enormous block of ice buried in the outwash. That mammoth cube melted to become a 35 ft deep spring fed lake.  

1889 - Kopmeier Family purchases the land

1955 - They donate land to Archdiocese of Milwaukee

1987 - Archdiocese sells to the Polish Heritage Alliance for the future site of the Polish Cultural Center

2003 - Conservancy for Healing and Heritage is formed as a 501(c)3

2005 - Conservancy purchases 36 acres including Kopmeier Lake and the surrounding woodland and wetland

2016 - Reiman Healing Chapel in the Woods is completed and opened to the public

2017 - initial clearing of the Healing Garden and upper Trail

The lake and the land around it is protected from future development forever.  

Funds raised is $2.5 million with a remaining $2.4 million needed to complete the Healing Garden and Nature Trails. ​

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A memorial or honorarium is a way to recognize a family member or friend.

No gift is too small. To find out ways you can help click the button below.