Draft:Money Hill Plantation

• Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest guideline, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. Kern River 1234 (talk) 11:51, 12 September 2026 (UTC)

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Money Hill is a forested property near Abita Springs, Louisiana, in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, containing a private gated residential community, a golf course and country club, and several thousand acres of managed pine forest and nature preserve. The roughly 5,600-acre property has been held by the Goodyear family since 1905.

History

Etymology

The name is the subject of several competing legends, all involving buried money. One holds that gold coins gathered after the War of 1812 were stolen and buried on the site, and that the thieves could not find them again beneath the fallen pine needles. Others attribute caches to Andrew Jackson's troops before the Battle of New Orleans, or to the privateer Jean Lafitte and smugglers operating out of Barataria Bay. Treasure seekers were still searching the property in the 1940s.

Timber origins

In 1905, acting through the timber agent J. D. Lacey, the Buffalo, New York lumbermen Charles Waterhouse Goodyear and his brother Frank Henry Goodyear purchased extensive tracts of virgin longleaf pine across Washington and St. Tammany parishes in Louisiana and adjacent Mississippi, among them the tract known as Money Hill. The brothers chartered the Great Southern Lumber Company, laid out Bogalusa, Louisiana as a planned company town around what was intended to be the largest sawmill in the world, and incorporated the New Orleans Great Northern Railroad to carry timber to market. Great Southern ceased milling operations in 1938 as the virgin pine was exhausted, and the company's holdings were subsequently divided. The St. Tammany acreage stayed with the family.

Tung oil and cattle

By the 1930s the pine market had slowed and tung oil, sometimes called "Chinese wood oil," had become commercially attractive. The federal government sought to build a domestic supply to reduce dependence on Chinese imports, and research identified St. Tammany Parish as one of the few areas of the country with suitable soil and climate. Charles Goodyear Jr. obtained seed stock and established the Money Hill Tung Plantation, which operated alongside the family's Bogue Chitto and Isabel stock farms. His son Charles III ran the business in the following decades, and in 1968 David Laurence Goodyear succeeded his father as president of Bogalusa Tung Oil and Money Hill Plantation.

The tung venture ran profitably for roughly three decades until Hurricane Camille destroyed the orchards in 1969, after which the company diversified out of tung oil into farming and recreational ventures.

Longleaf restoration and the campground

David Goodyear, who also served as president of the American Tung Oil Association, replanted the property in longleaf pine, the species native to the site and largely eliminated across the Gulf South by a century of industrial logging. Through the following decade he operated Money Hill as a family campground popular with vacationers and sportsmen. The campground closed in 1980.

A third-generation timberman, Goodyear managed the land on a multiple-use philosophy combining wildlife and habitat protection with recreation, farming, timber management, and rural residential development. He partnered with The Nature Conservancy and the Northshore Bird Club on regional land conservation, and served on the boards of the St. Tammany Parish Forestry Association and the New Directions 2025 Land Use Planning Commission.

Golf community

Beginning in 1985, Goodyear developed several residential subdivisions on family land, among them Great Southern and Whippoorwill Grove. In 1996 the St. Tammany Parish government approved a long-range plan governing development of the Money Hill property, including lot sizing and green-space preservation, and Money Hill Golf and Country Club followed in 1998.

The 18-hole course was designed by Ron Garl, whose firm has more than 250 courses to its credit, and is built around a 186-acre artesian spring-fed lake that figures into several holes and defines the closing stretch. It has been ranked among the leading courses in Louisiana since opening and has appeared on Golfweek's list of the top five private courses in the state. The first home was completed in 1999 and the country club opened in 2000.

Goodyear led the development until 2008, when his daughter Mimi Goodyear Dossett took over management. He died on January 22, 2009, and Charles "Chip" Waterhouse Goodyear IV became chair of the board of directors.

Expansion

In December 2023 the St. Tammany Parish Council approved opening approximately 4,400 previously forested acres of the property to development, reported as the largest zoning approval in the parish's history. Dossett described a 50-year horizon in which the property would hold roughly 3,500 homes while retaining its existing character, alongside a second 18-hole course, sports fields, expanded lakes, walking trails, and a small central village of shops. The first commercial tenant, a walk-in clinic operated by the Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group, opened in January 2024.

Parish Council member Cheryl Tanner, whose district includes the property, described the associated land use plan as among the best in St. Tammany Parish and said she had encountered little opposition to the expansion. Chris Masingill, head of the parish economic development agency St. Tammany Corp., cited Money Hill as an example of development that preserves trees and green space, while noting that growth in the parish continues to generate friction between developers and residents seeking a slower pace. Access to the area is expected to improve with construction of Louisiana Highway 3241, a $189 million project linking Interstate 12 to Bush.

Description

The property runs about seven miles north to south, roughly the area of the city of Covington, Louisiana, and lies about ten miles northeast of Covington between Louisiana highways 21 and 435. The terrain is unusual for the region, consisting of rolling hills averaging roughly 100 feet above sea level. As of 2024 the community held approximately 300 homes and more than 800 residents, with lots averaging just under an acre. Amenities include a clubhouse, pool, fitness center, tennis courts, and the Rob Noel Golf Academy.

Conservation

Approximately 3,500 acres surrounding the developed area are maintained as nature preserve. The property hosts the St. Tammany Parish office of the Nature Conservancy and supports more than 200 bird species, including bald eagles and great egrets, along with Bachman's fox squirrels. Conservation work includes continued replanting of longleaf pine, invasive species control, protected areas for particular species, and installation of bluebird and wood duck boxes.