Permanent Vacation
Vacation homes make living out your dream lifestyle a reality.
Print
Email
Bookmark
ShareJuly 1, 2005
Mercer Reynolds: Southern ComfortPolitical confidante and fishing buddy to both Presidents Bush, Mercer Reynolds currently lives most of the year in Cincinnati. His schedule over the past several years has been hectic—having played an active role in Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign, then serving as his ambassador to Switzerland, and—most recently—acting as national finance chairman for Bush’s 2004 reelection effort.
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
An aerial view of Mercer Reynolds’ estate. Photography courtesy of Reynolds Plantation. (Click image to enlarge)Now that his work for the president is complete, Reynolds has turned his attention to a more personal passion: Reynolds Plantation, a 12,000-acre residential/resort development on Lake Oconee in Georgia. As chairman and CEO of the development, Reynolds often works while he is there, but manages to sneak in his beloved fishing trips. The densely wooded land, halfway between Atlanta and Augusta, has been in Reynolds’ family for several generations—and served as a vacation destination for his family. “We used to camp out in the woods and hunt and fish at what was then called Linger Longer,” says Mercer, who was raised in Chattanooga, Tenn. In tribute to those fond memories, Reynolds bought out the other heirs to the property when his father contemplated selling it in 1985. His idea was to create a place where he could relive the experiences he had as a boy, and offer the chance for others to share in the lifestyle, as well.
To date, more than 1,200 homes have been constructed at Reynolds Plantation, in addition to a Ritz-Carlton hotel and four existing golf courses, with a fifth under construction. The readers of Golf Magazine picked Reynolds Plantation as the ultimate site to build a home. The resulting residence, the Golf Magazine Dream House—built in September 2004 by the magazine—was open to the public until this past May.
