Mussoorie
About the city
The winding roads from Dehradun take you all the way up, amidst the tall deodars, and the pines. The wayside flowers nod their heads as the cool breeze pass through them. and just as you thought the road winds all the way up, you reach the top. Beyond, you see the snowcapped Himalayas, and down in the valley you see the holy rivers of Ganges and Yamuna gushing happily down through the foothills. Welcome to Mussoorie. Despite being a sea of humanity, she still retains a mystic charm.
The queen of hill stations is about 89 km from Haridwar and the salubrious climate and deep woods make it an ideal hill station. The name, Mussoorie, derives its name from plants of 'Mussoorie', found in abundance here. After its discovery, this place gradually developed as a center of education, business, tourism and beauty. The hill station of Mussoorie came into being around the 1830s. What began as a small settlement grew into a large station to turn into a hill station of today overlooking the sprawling Doon valley and the city of Dehradun. Mussoorie was not named after a place in England. The British were content to follow the name given by the hill-folk. Mussoorie, at a height of around 7000 ft above the sea level, straddles a ridge in the Garhwal Himalayas, developing into a major tourism destination.
Moving Around
The best option to explore this picturesque location would be on foot. However rickshaws and taxis are available on per-day basis to travel. During the peak season, The Mall is closed to traffic. You can either walk across, or take a ride on ponies and hand-drawn rickshaws.
Orientation
The hill station of Mussoorie is located on the foothills of the Himalayas at an altitude of 2000 m above sea-level. It is 34 km from Dehradun and 280 km north of Delhi. The town of Mussoorie itself extends along a horse-shaped hill. Gandhi Chowk and Kulri Bazaar are connected by a 2 km stretch called the Mall, the most populous area of the city with numerous shops lined along its path. Camel Back Road is a back road that connects the two ends of the Mall.
History
Pre-20th Century History
Mussoorie came into being after the conquest of the Garhwal and Dehra regions by the Gurkhas under Umer Singh Thapa in 1803. In 1815 under British pressure, the Gurkhas evacuated Dehradun and its regions and by 1819, Mussoorie was annexed to the district of Saharanpur. Mussoorie gets its name from the Mansur berry, a shrub that grows abundantly in this area. In 1820, Captain Young, a British officer was so overwhelmed by the beauty of this place that he made this place his residence. It gradually developed into a hill-station frequented by bureaucrats and officers of the British Army. Soon Captain Young built his large residence called Mullingar at Landour. In 1827, a convalescent house was set up by the Government at the same place.
Modern History
Mussoorie grew rapidly and a hundred years on it had grown into a home away from home for British officers who pined for their country. They treated it as yet another in their list of summer getaways, far away from the heat and dust of the plains. Social life in Mussoorie reached its peak in the early 20th century --a melee of balls and parties in Landour cantonment and Polo, fetes and riding in Happy Valley where the Charleville Hotel stood, the present site of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA). A number of boarding schools started by the British dot Landour in Mussoorie.
Recent History
Today, Mussoorie has grown beyond its colonial past although still spotted with its vestiges in the architecture, culture and cuisine of the area. Previously on the map of the state of Uttar Pradesh, it is now part of the relatively new state of Uttaranchal and continues to be a popular summer getaway for urban Indians.
