This
fascinating hill station of Ooty has a glorious history. Ooty
is the short form for its original name ottakkalmandu the meaning
of which can be translated from Tamil as the village built of
a single stone. The current official name is udagamandalam. The
history of Ooty reveals that this beautiful place was discovered
by the British in the year 1819 by the then collector of Coimbatore
John Sullivan. This was as a result of a project wherein he was
asked to construct a bridle path uphill Sirumugai to Kotagiri.
According to the history of Ooty, the place was originally under
the control of the tribals called Todas.
Ever since its discovery, it has been a favorite holiday destination
for the British and for the others. Huge tea plantations and
factories came to be established here and the hill is covered
with greenery. Ooty is part of a group of mountains called the
Nilgiris or the Blue Mountains and is the capital of the district
of the Nilgiris. The metalled ghat road from Kallar to Conoor
which connects Chennai to ooty was mainly constructed by Colonel
G.V. Law in 1871. It was later extended to Ooty. The road is
still named after 
Law.
The British realized he natural charm of the hill station and
treated this place with a lot of affection. It was their favorite
destination for leisure and holiday.
According to the history of Ooty, the place was part of Coimbatore
district for many years and under the Malabar district for a
few years. However it later attained its independent status.
It has been a popular hill station for many decades and continues
to be so. However a lot of construction work has taken away
some of its charm, though there is some sort of control exercised
by the authorities recently.
