Anna Dangerfield: Aiken native focuses on history, heritage

Dec. 18—The "Winter Colony" concept is anything but an abstraction to Anna Dangerfield, as the Aiken native is one of the foremost authorities on local history, particularly as it relates to the early 20th century and such individuals as Hope Goddard Iselin, Dorothy Knox Goodyear Rogers and James B. McNair.

Their legacies, as towering figures from the establishment and preservation of Hopelands Gardens and Rye Patch, have been focal points of Anna's life for decades. Now she heads toward completion of a term as the president of Friends of Hopelands and Rye Patch, an organization described on its website as aiming to provide advice for the municipal government "and raise funds for the preservation, improvement, and use of the properties so they can be enjoyed by Aiken's residents and visitors consistent with the donors' written wishes that Hopelands be a quiet, peaceful garden of excellence and that Rye Patch serves as a civic center of suitable dignity."

The "Friends" group was established in 1971, so much of its recent emphasis has been on celebrating the organization's 50th anniversary, during which Anna has been president.

Others on the board are Holly Woltz, vice president; Darrell Rains, treasurer; Gail Ebner, corresponding secretary; and Lil Brannon, recording secretary. She has served in leadership roles with dozens of local residents, including those who were on the first board of Women of Woodside. She was also president of Sand River Woman's Club and served on the board for the Aiken Area Council on Aging, including a role as treasurer for the noted "Still Magnolias" calendar fundraiser, and she also has helped guide such organizations as Aiken Center for the Arts and Children's Place.

"I love Aiken history and I am a fifth-generation Aikenite," wrote Anna, a St. John's United Methodist Church member whose husband is businessman Tim Dangerfield, also known to many as president of Palmetto Golf Club, one of the city's longest-running institutions.

The territory was highly familiar to the lady of the house, as she was born in Aiken County Hospital and grew up at the corner of Dibble Road and Highland Park Drive, in the Kalmia Hills area, traveling across town weekly to attend services at Millbrook Baptist Church.

"It's funny. I never thought that much about what was behind those serpentine walls, because those were private estates, and as a child growing up, and as a teen, you're just busy living your life, but then as an adult, I found learning the history so very interesting."

Her horizons have broadened significantly over the decades, and travel has been a part of the package, as her husband noted.

"Anna is generous of her time to help people and organizations. I'm proud of her. We both love to travel with some of our favorite countries being Ireland, Scotland, China, Italy, Japan and Russia. We also enjoy traveling throughout South Carolina to watch our grandchildren (eight, soon to be nine) play soccer, football, and basketball," he said.

Anna's longtime friends include Beth Newburn, another Aiken native with a deep dedication to supporting the famous former estates a few steps from Whiskey Road. When asked to help with a description of Anna, Newburn wrote, "There are innumerable/countless adjectives to describe Anna Dangerfield when she assumes a project ... a real 'spark plug' first of all, diligent, dedicated, enthusiastic, conscientious, tireless, committed, attentive to detail."

Newburn, described by Anna as "a fabulous mentor to me," also expressed appreciation for recent fruit of Anna's labor in partnership with Brannon, a professor emerita of English at UNC Charlotte.

The Dangerfield-Brannon creation, being unveiled this month, is "a very special gift to our community," in Newburn's words. Being offered for sale is a 92-page, heavily illustrated book titled "Hopelands Gardens and Rye Patch: The Friends' Story," and telling the story of how such figures as LeRoy Wright, Roland Windham, Robert Marvin and Joan B. Tower were involved in the creation, maintenance and preservation of the historic Whiskey Road attractions.

Outlets for the book include York Cottage Antiques, Cold Creek Nurseries, Nandina, Aiken Visitors Center and Train Museum, 3 Monkeys, Aiken County Visitors Center, Folly and Aiken Antiques and Uniques.

"We wanted to tell the true story. We've done a lot of research," Anna confirmed. "The stars have kind of aligned for us. In 2021, it was our 50th anniversary, and we are still in touch with the ... Iselin Foundation, and that trustee is in her 90s now, and she knew Mrs. Iselin, so she's given us quotes, so she's got some good information ... Beth Newburn is an excellent historian, and Lisa Hall, with the city, she's an excellent historian, and also ... some of Mrs. Rogers' descendants are here in Aiken, so we just thought it was time to go ahead and try to capture all of his history that we have."

The process was surprisingly difficult, in Anna's assessment. "Writing with an English professor, we have end-noted everything — everything — so that was an interesting experience, and we're still good friends."

She added, "I've enjoyed working on the book. It has been a definite labor of love. I am so glad that we did it. You know, there are a lot of different restrictions in Hopelands Gardens and some in Rye Patch, too, and hopefully, people will understand why those restrictions have been put in place."

Brannon, who said her friendship with Anna dates back to "when we were Brownie Scouts," confirmed that the process of producing a book was a serious challenge. "We thought we could get it done in a few months, but it wound up being ... almost two years, I guess, because the property is so beautiful and the photographers in town have given us all kinds of pictures, and people had all kinds of stories."

Anna focused mainly on interviews — a process that she enjoyed tremendously — while Brannon handled most of the research, dealing with such things as the historical background of the families involved.

"It's been a wonderful process, working with Anna," Brannon said. "She's such a lovely person and such a wealth of historical knowledge."

Anna's frequent collaborators over the past few decades have also included Betty Ryberg, whose husband, Greg, is a former state legislator who spent years in business with Tim Dangerfield.

"I've known Anna since we moved to Aiken, which was since 1977," Betty Ryberg recalled. "We were both young at the same time, and she is an Aiken family, so there was a lot I learned about Aiken just from casual conversations with her, but what I saw was the dedication that she had to the parts of Aiken that were meaningful in the ways families grouped together and experiences they had together, and also places, which is, fast-forward, how she got involved in Hopelands Gardens. She had a touch on how things worked."

Anna, whose early adult years included work as a pharmacist in Hilton Head and later in Aiken, also faced a family tragedy — the suicide of her first husband. She came on board with Aiken's then-new hospital (now Aiken Regional Medical Centers) at the invitation of one of her cousins, Hink Salley, who was the chief of pharmacy. Anna "found the hours were long in the pharmacy" and wound up working in a new role, serving in the hospital's public-relations department.

She wrote, "I felt God worked in my life by bringing me back to my hometown where my father and mother still lived, my brother was soon to return and my sister lived in a nearby city. After a few years of being in Aiken, my husband took his life. I was now living close to my family, and would not have been at Hilton Head. I also could not have continued to practice pharmacy, mixing IV fluids and measuring small quantities of medicines, while going through the devastating grief I endured."

She also noted, "Journaling helped me through my grief and the public-relations job required writing and I obtained a B.A. in English during this time from USC Aiken. After five years, Becky Robbins and Betty Ryberg set me and Tim Dangerfield up on a date, and we were married within six months. He partnered with Greg Ryberg and Jim Victor in the Depot Food Stores."

Betty Ryberg, in describing Anna, chose such phrases as "very organized" and "extremely pleasant."

She added, "When you are running into a mountain or a wall, you look over at her, and she ... has an infectious giggle, and we would be ready to gasp, thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, what are we going to do? How are we going to handle it?,' and Anna would have this little giggle, and I'd think, "OK, we're going to get through this,' and that is really important when you're volunteering and you're coming up to professionals or ... seeking donors."

The two have done many fundraisers together, and Anna is focused and has a sharp mind, in Betty's assessment.

"She's extremely trustworthy," Betty added. "You can't get better than an infectious giggle and a sharp mind."

The Dangerfields' marriage also has its roots in friendship with the Rybergs. Betty recalled that Greg hired Tim — who was single at the time — as a business partner.

"Tim was working seven days a week, and I told Greg he was very lonely, and Greg said, 'He doesn't seem lonely,' and we fixed him up with Anna, so when they got fixed up, then of course, Tim went back down to normal working hours, and I said, 'Look, he seems so happy.'"

The Rybergs and Dangerfields have stayed "companionable friends as well as business friends," Betty said. "We've gone on vacation with them, and she's about the easiest person to be around, but that's not enough. You've got to have a sharp mind. If you're going to work with somebody, they have to have more, and she has more, in spades."

The Dangerfields spent a few years in Woodside, "where we raised our three sons," the lady of the house recalled. Two of the sons' brides are from Aiken and the third is from Rock Hill. The three families are spread among James Island, Columbia and Greenville. "We have eight children — seven boys and one beautiful little red-headed girl named Annie."