Summer retreat

Until John Sullivan discovered it, Ooty (Ootacamund, or Uthagamandalam) was the homeland of the Todas and the Badagas, indigenous people of the Nilagiri Hills. Hearing much about the fabulous beauty of the hills, Sullivan, who was Collector of Coimbatore in the early 19th century, went ahead to find out for himself. What he found there seems to have transformed him completely, for his life from then on seems to have been dedicated to the preservation of the Todas, Badagas and other tribes of these hills.

In 1822, Sullivan built a house for himself in Ooty. It is said that it was the first 'proper' house there. And then, his fellow countrymen came in droves. Many came as planters; for several others, it was the perfect vacation spot, not too far from Madras, the Presidency headquarters, and yet with a climate that was almost 'back home'. There was no army to be defeated, no king to negotiate with, only the Todas and Badagas who seem to have received the newcomers quite warmly, allowing them to corner a lot of the land for their English vegetables and to build their houses. And so it seemed natural that as the summer's heat began to burn up Madras city, the administrators rushed up to the cool of the Nilgiris, officially designating Ooty the Summer Capital of the Madras Presidency, a practice that continued well after Independence, being phased out only in the late 1950s / early 1960s.

The house that Sullivan built still stands. Used as the residence of the Principal of the Government Arts College at Ooty, it is a major landmark; even though several people haven't heard of Sullivan, 'Stone House' is enough for them to give you directions to this residence!