Fountainhill Estate has a rich history, having been a Lutheran mission station and school. The Georgenau Chapel was built as a Mission Church in 1907 and was later restored in 1980 and still stands to this day.

In 1967 Mr Ernst Taeuber returned to the district and acquired numerous properties (Friedrichskron, Georgenau, Greenhill, Fountainhill, Kronsberg) that had originally belonged to his grandparents (Hermann Reiche – 1877), in order to reconstitute as much of the original farm as possible.

As a visionary thinker and passionate conservationist, Ernst Taeuber meticulously planned the conservation and catchment layout of the properties, excluding marginal and vulnerable portions from commercial agricultural use, dedicating them instead to conservation. This land rehabilitation was conducted during the period 1969-1979.

In 1985 this foresight led to the proclamation of the Hlambamasoka gorge and surrounding conservation area as a South African Heritage site. Since then additional conservation land along the uMgeni river with 10.5 km of river frontage has been acquired. In 2016 the property was placed in a non-beneficiary Trust with objectives of serving the broader community by contributing to research, environmental education and training within the context of “Farming in Harmony with Nature”.

Fountainhill Estate comprises approximately 2,200ha of which roughly 780ha is dedicated to commercial cropping (sugar cane & avocados) and the balance to conservation of the bio-diversity of the uMgeni catchment. The property is endowed with an abundance of infrastructure, which has been developed for purposes of accommodation.