Ridgetop Ventures invites you to experience Mountain Soul...the warm energy of mother nature and the universe from a unique cultural perspective. You are invited to bring your family and friends to share, join and participate in the building of a community. You are invited to release, relax and escape to a very special place in the forests called Sassafras Ridge Mountain Retreat.

Marcus Garvey Drive is the main road at Sassafras Ridge, a unique community nestled between two National Forests and situated atop the magnificent Blue Ridge Mountains of Southeastern Tennessee. Watching silver-pink sunrises and mauve-purple sunsets are the favorite pastimes of the day. Sassafras Ridge provides an escape to an area of natural beauty and solitude. It is the place to go to experience the outdoors– whether you’re interested in hiking, nature walks, horseback riding, picnicking, fishing, whitewater rafting, canoeing, birdwatching, or photography. It is the place to go if you want to take time to smell the roses, or discover the rhododendron and delicate wildflowers.

Located in Turtletown, Tennessee, Sassafras Ridge Mountain Retreat consists of over 585 acres of pristine forests and wilderness, fanning across mountain peaks and ridges, and including a natural oasis known as the Harriet Tubman Nature Reserve. Bordering North Carolina at the state line, Sassafras Ridge has over forty springs, numerous roaring streams, miles of trails and two spring-fed lakes– Lake Nia and Lake Imani– stocked with trout and bream!

ESCAPE!

Sassafras was established by Shaka Kusaidi and Arike Logan,MD in 1989 as a beautiful, natural sanctuary for positive and progressive families. For ten years through 1999, they developed and built Sassafras Ridge into a community of over 485 acres and eighty landowner families. Since 2000, a team led by Shaka and Mansa Parker– now known as Ridgetop Ventures– has expanded Sassafras by 100 acres with two phases: Sassafras 2000 and The Ridgetops.

Ridgetop Ventures

Ridgetop Ventures is a development, marketing and programming team located at Sassafras Ridge. In addition to building communities, land sales and construction consulting, Ridgetop Ventures is also involved with producing cultural, health, spiritual and business networking retreats and programs. In addition to the thousands of men, women and children who visit the Ridge or participate in wilderness retreats each year, over one hundred families have now joined by becoming landowners.

“Sassafras is much more than a business or a real estate development project ...we are building a community,” states Shaka.Kusaidi,   “We give thanks to GOD for this rich and beautiful land, this experience, this community and this opportunity. Our collective potential is enormous,” continues Kusaidi, “Our landowners are leaders in health, education, the arts, law, religion, business, construction, science, and communications ...from the Caribbean and Latin America...to up North, New Orleans and the West coast. We all bring different experiences, but share a common love of nature, life and our unique community.”

Developers have kept the tracts of land at Sassafras Ridge in Tennessee to five or more acres to maintain the wilderness environment. Most of the miles of electrical power have been installed underground. The roads are gravel, there are no sidewalks, and of course, no hunting is allowed on retreat property.

The late Ebon Dooley, a President of the Sassafras Ridge Landowners Association, asserted last summer, “The association is committed to building Sassafras for today and for tomorrow,” he stated. “While maintaining the roads and common areas is our primary mission, we also coordinate community programs for the landowners and guests at Sassafras Ridge.”

Friends and family of Ebon Dooley named and dedicated Ebon Dooley Drive, a road bordering Lake Nia at Sassafras Ridge.

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