Ooty Town & Lake During The British Era, 1890 Photo

Ooty Town & Lake During The British Era, 1890 Photo

This is an 1890 old photo of Ooty town and the lake. It shows sprawling meadows and a spectacular landscape of a bygone Ooty. John Sullivan discovered the Nilgiris where Ooty is situated in 1819. He was the collector of Coimbatore at the time. The place reminded Sullivan of Scotland in England.

His foresight and development helped shape the Nilgiris or the Blue Mountain. So-called because the mist on the mountain gives out an illusion of blue. One of his enterprising works included the commissioning of the artificial Ooty Lake in 1824. A rack and pinion hill railway with a unique toy train was commissioned in the early 1900s.

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway or NMR is a UNESCO heritage site today. Traveling by this steam loco toy train is an out-of-this-world experience, it gives a spectacular view of the Nilgiris. The ride is undeniably heavenly, one needs to experience it to get a feel of it. With quaint little stations en route such as Kallar, Hillgrove, Runnymede, Coonoor…and so on.

Also see History of Ooty.  See post Ooty In The19th Century – Old Photo 1880. And Ooty Steam Loco Train Halt Over Bridge – Old Photograph 1909. 

Did you know- John Sullivan’s grave was discovered in Berkshire, UK, after 24-year long search by Dharmalingam Venugopal from Chennai. Read this in- Long search from India yields Ooty founder’s grave .

From the collection- Raja Ravi Varma’s “Birth of Shakuntala” Oleograph of c1894., Types of Indian Native Character – Old Pictorial Book 1910., Mumbai Welcoming The King & Queen – Old Print 1905., Fort St George & Madras Town – Antique Hand Colored Map