Yercaud Tourism - Tamil-Nadu

Yeracaud is situated in the green vistas of the Shervaoyan Hills in the Eastern Ghats, close to the town of Salem in Tamil Nadu. Its popularity as an escape from the heat and grime of the city rests not just upon its landscape of forest covered hill-sides, and coffee, cardamom and black pepper plantations,  but also its very affordability, as against the more up-market Ooty. The picturesque man-made lake here is a popular spot for picnickers. Yercaud started gaining popularity as a hillstation in the 19th century. It was David Cockburn, the Scottish Collector of Salem (said to have first introduced the cultivation of coffee here) who set about developing its natural resources. The Grange, his old home which still stands, was fortified and equipped with ramparts and cannons, to act as a sanctuary for the European community here, in the event of another uprising after the Indian Mutiny.