Our Story | Nashaway Retreats

Dr. Melanie Barton Founder & Host

The guide

Meet Dr. Melanie Barton.

Dr. Melanie is the quiet, attentive presence at the heart of every Nashaway retreat. A holistic psychotherapist since 1985, she holds a Master's in Social Work and a Doctorate in Pastoral Counseling and Community Development, is a licensed clinical social worker in Florida (LCSW) and Georgia (CSW), and is an ordained Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister. As she puts it: she offers the traditional methods, but enhances them with alternative ones. Her own practice centers on Reiki, hypnosis, Emotion Code, and Advanced Cell Training, and she teaches her clients meditation and visualization — a holistic approach focused on detoxing the body, mind, and spirit. For every other modality offered here, she gathers trusted practitioners she has known and worked with for years.

Guests describe her as a perfect host: warm, present, and remarkably skilled at creating the conditions for healing without ever rushing it. She designed Nashaway alongside the friends, builders, and craftspeople who helped bring it to life — and that intention runs through every part of it.

"Healing is not something I do to people. It's what naturally happens when we slow down, drop our armor, and remember who we are. My job is to hold that space."

Practitioner of Reiki, hypnosis, Emotion Code, and Advanced Cell Training; teaches meditation and visualization.
Ordained minister offering spiritual cleansings for dwellings, people, and animals.
Hosts The Dr. Melanie Show, a podcast that gathers healers, mentors, and stories of transformation.
Published author of four books, plus poetry and magazine articles.
Designer of the Nashaway sanctuary, brought to life with the help of trusted friends and builders.

Our mission

More than a retreat. A journey back to wholeness.

Imagine stepping away from the noise of daily life and entering a peaceful sanctuary where healing begins.

Our mission is to create that space — and provide the tools — so people can truly heal in mind, body, and spirit. Through immersive experiences in a restorative natural setting, guests feel their awareness expand and their vitality return. They rediscover how to reconnect — deeply with themselves, meaningfully with others, and joyfully with the world around them.

Rest · Reflect · Reconnect

Built with purpose

The hurricane-resistant roundhouse.

Nashaway is anchored by a one-of-a-kind home — a circular, eco-friendly structure designed to weather Florida's storms while gently embracing every guest who steps inside.

From the rooftop

A refuge, by design.

A home shaped for healing.

The roundhouse is the heart of Nashaway — a thoughtful, intentional structure shaped to do more than shelter. Its circular form was chosen for a reason: rounded walls deflect hurricane-force winds, and the very same curves that protect the body during a storm also soften the energy of every gathering inside. No sharp corners. No harsh edges. Just one continuous flow that wraps around whoever steps inside.

Built with the earth in mind, the home uses materials chosen for resilience and grace. A wraparound deck with a handicap-accessible ramp keeps it open to guests of every ability. A concrete spiral staircase rises through the center of the building to a flat rooftop, where the night sky becomes part of the retreat — this is where CE5 sky-watch evenings unfold.

This isn't a vacation rental dressed up as a retreat. The roundhouse was built, from the ground up, as a sanctuary — a place purpose-shaped to hold weary travelers, seekers, leaders, and friends. The building itself is part of the medicine.

The land

Florida sanctuary, by design.

Set on a quiet stretch of Florida land, Nashaway is being shaped — slowly, in phases — into a complete retreat sanctuary. Wooded paths, a working labyrinth, a fire pit, a rooftop sky-watch deck, a yurt, and (coming soon) a small village of A-frame cabins nestled into the trees.

Every element is here for a reason. The labyrinth invites contemplation. The fire pit invites story. The rooftop invites wonder. The cabins (in progress) will invite deep, private rest.

See Stays & Phases

The name

Why "Nashaway"?

"Nashaway" carries the spirit of the land between — a name with roots in Indigenous languages of North America, often associated with crossings, rivers, and meeting places.

It felt right. Nashaway is a meeting place — between who you've been and who you are becoming, between the busyness you carry and the quiet you crave, between solitude and community. It's where those things gather, and where the heaviness can finally be set down.