The property was acquired in the 1930s as a family summer retreat by the noted conservationist and writer Aldo Leopold and is the landscape that inspired his conservation ethic and the writing of his best-known work, A Sand County Almanac.

The foundation has a visitors' center about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) east of the property at the junction of Levee and Schemp Roads.

The principal built feature of the farm is the former chicken coop, set midway between Levee Road and the river, where Leopold spent his time; there is also a small outhouse nearby.

The soil in the region is sandy, the result of deposition during the Cambrian Period that was reworked by the Wisconsin glaciation.

A Sand County Almanac, a compilation of his writings, is widely regarded as one of the most influential works on conservationism of the 20th century.