The credit for developing the Nilgiris goes to the British in general and John Sullivan in particular.
As the then Collector of Coimbatore, John Sullivan was the first European to take seriously the reports emerging from the region about the salubrious climate of the hills. After learning a great deal about the idyllic hideaway from two of his assistants, who had been sent to these hills to nab tobacco smugglers, Sullivan led an expedition to the hills in January 1819.
Sullivan applied to the Board of Revenue and was sanctioned ₹800 for a survey of the fields of the plateau and ₹ 300 for a path . The laying of the path began in 1821 and was completed in May 1823. It remained the best route to the hills until the Coonoor ghat was constructed in 1830-32.
