Woodside Plantation: A Legacy of Vision
From Winter Colony Retreat to Premier Community
Mid-1900s: A Gentleman’s Paradise
James A. Burden, a Vanderbilt descendant and prominent member of Aiken’s prestigious Winter Colony, acquired the land that would become Woodside Plantation. For Burden, this sprawling property represented the ideal setting for riding and hunting—a gentleman’s preserve where he could indulge his passion for field sports.
Mid-1980s: Vision Takes Root
The property’s history came full circle when H. Earle Holley, whose ancestors originally owned the land in and around Woodside, reimagined its future. What had once been farmland and pine forest—2,360 acres in total—would be transformed into something remarkable.
Holley, serving as Chairman of the Board of Palmetto Federal Bank, partnered with Pat Cunning, President of Palmetto Service Corporation. Together, these visionaries began developing what they hoped would become a unique residential country club community. Development commenced in 1984.
July 22, 1986: The Rush Begins
When The Aiken Standard reported that sales had begun in Woodside Plantation, the response exceeded all expectations. Potential buyers camped out in record heat, waiting in line for up to 48 hours to secure their piece of this new community. On opening day alone, 115 lots were sold. Within just two months, that number had grown to 161 homesites.
The vision promised was ambitious: a carefully planned community centered around two championship golf courses, complete with a full-service clubhouse, swimming pool, and tennis courts.
1987: The Club Opens
Woodside Country Club opened its doors along with the first championship course, designed by Rees Jones, son of legendary golf course architect Robert Trent Jones. The club facilities set the standard for what would become one of South Carolina’s premier golf communities.
1990: Expansion and New Ownership
The second championship course, designed by renowned architect Bob Cupp, opened to acclaim. Shortly thereafter, Woodside Plantation Country Club and both golf courses were sold to Country Clubs of America, marking a new chapter in the community’s evolution.
1993 and Beyond: Continued Growth
Rick Steele acquired Woodside Development Company, a subsidiary of Palmetto Service Company, and continued expanding the community’s offerings. Under his leadership, The Reserve Club—featuring a Nicklaus Design course—began construction in 2001, opened in Spring 2002, and welcomed members to The Reserve Clubhouse in 2003.
In 2007, the first phase of the Hollow Creek course, designed by Clyde Johnston and Masters Champion Fuzzy Zoeller, was completed, further cementing Woodside Plantation’s reputation as a golf destination of distinction.
To be continued in next month’s newsletter.
OH, THE STORIES THEY COULD TELL…
WOODSIDE’S VERY OWN GOLDEN GIRLS: LOU HARTNETT AND ANN WOODARD — HERE FROM DAY ONE!
(Part 2 of 3)
“Opening Day” – July 22, 1986
When The Aiken Standard reported that sales had begun in Woodside Plantation, the response exceeded all expectations. In record summer heat, eager buyers camped out for as long as 48 hours, waiting in line to secure their place in this brand-new community. By the end of that first day alone, 115 lots had been sold.
Woodside developer Pat Cunning, then with Palmetto Federal, struck gold with one particularly wise decision: hiring Lou Hartnett and Ann Woodard to work for what was then Woodside Plantation Realty, Inc.
And what a decision it was.
Mildred Louise Foust — later Reed, Grant, and Hartnett — better known simply as Lou, was born on Halloween in 1925. Yes, that makes her 100 years and five months young. Lou is renowned throughout the Woodside community for many things besides her remarkable age and boundless energy. Working in the Woodside sales office on that historic opening day in 1986, Lou personally sold 31 lots.
But real estate isn’t Lou’s only claim to fame.
Her love of golf is legendary. At age 99, Lou scored her first hole-in-one, proving it’s never too late to achieve a golfing milestone. Years earlier, in the 1960s, The Aiken Standard Register ran a memorable note reporting that “Lou Grant left the golf course today to give birth to her son, George.” Her passion for the game remains such a defining part of her story that in 2023, Woodside Country Club hosted the first annual Lou Hartnett Invitational Golf Tournament in her honor.
Lou has also been widowed three times, a fact she acknowledges with her signature wit: “Always look your best. You never know when you’re going to meet your next husband!”
Lou’s dear friend and colleague Ann Woodard, a mere 87 years young, was just as impressive on that first day of sales. Ann sold 42 lots on opening day—an incredible feat in itself.
While Ann may not be a golfer, golf greatness still runs in her family. Her son-in-law, Scott Verplank, enjoyed a distinguished professional career on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour, and represented the United States in the prestigious Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.
Opening Day also became a memorable moment for Danny Ferguson, an Aiken County native who was living in Gem Lakes at the time. Danny and his wife, Deborah, ultimately became Sale #75.
Deborah, who didn’t play golf, wasn’t entirely convinced that waiting in line to buy property in a golf course community was the best plan for their young family. Danny, however, had other ideas. Danny told Deborah he had to report to work at 4:30am that morning. Instead, he quietly headed to the development office, joining hundreds of hopeful buyers already waiting their turn.
That early-morning gamble paid off. Danny connected with Ann Woodard and secured Lot #75.
“Woodside came along at the right time for us,” Danny recalls. “I was excited about the golf courses, and we had just welcomed our third child and needed a bigger house.”
Sales moved so quickly that buyers were encouraged to list five acceptable lots, just in case their first choice was already taken.
Fortunately, the Fergusons did get their first choice, moving onto Hemlock Court in 1987. They lived there for 35 years before eventually settling into their “forever home” on Hunter’s Run in 2022.
Fast forward to 2026: Danny is now a very low-handicap golfer, and Deborah plays four days a week. What began with a not-so-chance meeting with Ann Woodard and the purchase of Lot #75 turned into the beginning of a lifelong Woodside story.
And as it turns out… that’s just the start of the rest of the story.
What connects the fall of Communism to a neighborhood in Aiken, SC?
(Part 3 of 3)
More than you’d think.
Poland’s former President, Lech Walesa, didn’t just end the Cold War. He’s also the reason Rick Steele ended up in Aiken, SC.
In 1989, Rick was working for Chase Enterprises, a Hartford, CT investment firm specializing in commercial real estate and hospitality. Chase’s president, David Chase — a Polish Jew who had escaped a Nazi concentration camp at age 14 — sent Rick to Warsaw to negotiate a joint venture with the Polish government. The mission: bring cable television to a country of 8 million homes served by just two state-run channels that went off the air each night.
The venture succeeded. And it set everything else in motion.
By 1993, Chase Enterprises had turned its attention to broadcast holdings in the American South. A cable company in Aiken, SC, had come up for sale — Woodside Cable Company, owned by Palmetto Services, led by its president, Pat Cunning. Rick flew down to close the deal.
He never really left.
Rick and his wife Carol arrived expecting a transaction. What they found was a town — one with a rare, unhurried sense of community, canopied streets, and architecture that had somehow resisted the impulse to modernize itself into anonymity. Pat Cunning still remembers Rick’s first reaction to Aiken. “He saw what a special place it was,” Cunning recalls. “He especially admired the serpentine wall at Hopelands Gardens. He immediately saw the same things that appeal to all of us who came here. If Rick hadn’t fallen in love with Aiken, The Reserve wouldn’t have happened.” Rick’s reaction to Aiken was serendipitous since Pat Cunning had just sold the cable company to another buyer… at the closing table, the subject of the transaction was swapped to Woodside Plantation.
On December 29, 1993, Rick and Carol purchased the unsold home sites along with acreage that became the beginnings of what is now known as The Reserve at Woodside. In 1998, Rick acquired additional land from Myrtle Anderson and, in 2000, he acquired lands from the Moyer family, all acreage that would eventually become the remainder of The Reserve at Woodside, Reserve at Hollow Creek, The Village, Anderson Farms, Hollow Creek Nature Preserve, and, most recently, Publix. The land he purchased has become one of the South’s premier communities.
In 2002, he persuaded a skeptical paralegal named Diana Peters — unimpressed after her first interview — to join Woodside Development L.P. She has never left. “His vision and his work ethic convinced me that this project was destined for success,” Diana says, twenty-four years on. “I couldn’t have worked here for 24 years without the support and opportunities provided by Rick and his wife, Carol.”
That vision was never purely commercial. Rick and Carol shared a deep commitment to natural landscape architecture — and a firm belief that the land itself was worth protecting. At a time when most developers clear-cut a site before breaking ground, Rick refused. He insisted on preserving the mature trees that still define The Reserve today. In the early days of construction, he could be found alongside the laborers, personally adjusting the placement of new plantings to work with the existing landscape rather than against it.
A cable company brought Rick Steele to Aiken. A community kept him there.