The name Tetteh Quashie is well documented and embedded in the history of Ghana, with even the most information-starved Ghanaian having some level of knowledge with regards to who he was and what he did for Ghana.
As the first man to bring cocoa seedlings to Ghana from Fendando Po, off the coast of Equatorial Guinea in 1879 and introduce the country to what has today become one of our biggest export and source of revenue, Tetteh Quarshie is celebrated as a hero in Ghana and fittingly so. While he may have passed on so many decades ago, his legacy still lives on today in so many forms, chiefly being the establishment of the Tetteh Quarshie Hospital in his hometown, Mampong, in the Eastern region.
However his greatest legacy lies in the very craft he was involved in; farming. The cocoa farm on which he farmed and grew cocoa for years still exist in the Mampong area with the land still being used to grow cocoa as a way of preserving the memory of the great farmer.
Surprisingly and to the shock of many visitors, three original trees planted by Tetteh Quarshie himself remain on the huge cocoa plantation, along with new cocoa trees planted by the current caretakers and farmers.
The farm is under the care of the Mampong palace, with a special appointed caretaker at the palace who must be consulted by tourists who intend to take a tour of the farm. The caretaker at the palace charges a small fee which is used to maintain the farm and then hands over the tourists to tour guides at the plantation.
While not many people know of the existence of the plantation, it continues to receive a good number of tourists annually even though the number is relatively low compared to other major historical tourist destinations in Ghana.
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