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My Office: Rebekah Stewart, Owner and Operator, Brigadoon Lodge
by Kate Yandoh
November 7, 2008
R
ebekah Stewart never expected that a weekend detour would result in such a radical turn.
Fifteen years ago, she was a Wall Street equities consultant on her way back to New York from a
quick visit to Lake Burton, when she spied some land for sale and decided it had to be hers. "There
was just something about it." Her instincts were absolutely right: this stretch of the Soque River
is a "uniquely, amazingly perfect habitat" filled with the country's second highest number of trout
per mile.
"I first thought I'd just come here once a month. I'd never fished a day in my
life, but I became fascinated with improving and creating habitats ... it's so beautiful, like a
massive private aquarium."
Stewart learned about land and water management and has worked diligently to keep the
stream-bred trout - and the anglers - thriving beneath the sheer rock cliff, ancient hemlocks, and
mountain laurels. In ten years, Stewart's Brigadoon has gone from a private rustic mountain getaway
to a luxurious retreat ESPN's Chad Foster dubbed "the Augusta National of Fly Fishing" and
"America's #1 fly fishing destination."
Although she's traded the conference room for a sun porch overlooking the river, Stewart
still spends her days with the "superstars of the business world."
An hour and a half's drive from Atlanta, Brigadoon is a magnet for Fortune 100 board
meetings and leadership sessions.
Although her guest book includes the names of heavy hitters such as Governor Jim Edwards,
former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin, former Senator and Saudi Ambassador Wyche Fowler, as well as
Bono and the Edge from rock super group U2 (they had a meeting with her neighbor Ted Turner).
Brigadoon's not just for the boys. Stewart is drawing more and more women to the charms of the
river: "I never learned to play golf when I was in the business world, because I didn't have 20
years to learn. You can learn to catch a fish in a day, so it's a level playing field. Executive
women entertain clients here, mothers take their sons fishing, and we offer clinics and getaways
especially for women."
