Ooty Lake is an artificial lake which was built by John Sullivan in 1824. Since there were a lot of water streams, so water flowing from these streams down the mountains was blocked up to form a lake. Originally the motive behind the lake was to use it for fishing and ferries were used to travel across the lake. Gradually, it shrunk in size giving way to the development of the bus stand race course and the lake park which exist today. The lake came under the possession of the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation in the year 1973 on behalf of the Tourism Department to provide boating facilities at the lake for visiting tourists as a means of tourist attraction.