Places to Visit
Top Places to Visit
in Sabathu
Sabathu is a place meant for history buffs and curious travellers. Here is how you can spend your day in this old cantonment town.
Methodist Church
This beautiful wooden church is located near the Sabathu bus station. Built in 1877, the interiors of the church including the wooden pews are as old as the church itself. Inside, there is a big hall with large wooden windows where prayers are held every Sunday. It comes under the Church of North India (CNI), Amritsar.
There is also St. Francis Assisi Roman Catholic Church in Sabathu. It’s also an old church with beautiful surroundings.
Gorkha fort and Kali temple
There is nothing much left of this historic fort, which was built more than 200 years ago when Gorkha army commander Amar Singh Thapa ruled here. The small fort, which is under army control, adjoins a Kali temple. You can visit the temple but not the fort as its gates have been locked and no one is allowed inside.
You can watch the fort, or rather what remains of it, from the outside. This abandoned historic place might also soon become a thing of the past.
Old Bazaar of Sabathu
One place in Sabathu which is always buzzing is its old Bazaar. Located at the far end of the bus stand, the old bazaar with its cobbled paths is quite famous too. There was a time when Sabathu used to a major centre of trade in the region and this bazaar a hotspot.
A narrow lane from this bazaar leads you to the ‘Kashmiri Mohalla’ where once Kashmiri artisans especially the weavers lived during the British days. Sabathu was a major centre of shawls manufacturing. The shawls made in Sabathu were considered superior to those of Ludhiana and Amritsar at that time. At the end the Kashmiri Mohalla, there is also an old mosque.
Durga temple
This is one of the most beautiful temples you ever visited. Vibrant colors have been used to paint the main gate and the walls of the temple. The nicely-colored idols of gods and goddesses make the temple look and feel even better. The view from the temple is also nice. A good place to visit.
Sabathu Cemetery
The cemetery in Sabathu is the oldest in the region. It was established soon after Britishers had defeated the Gorkha army and made Sabathu a cantonment and their headquarters for the hill states in 1815. Many British officers and their family members were buried here.
H T Tapp, who served as a political agent in Sabathu and who carried out the first feasibility survey of Kasauli before it was founded, was also buried here after his death. Written on his grave stone are these words: “Sacred to the memory of Major General Horatio Thomas Tapp, who died at Khaltu, Subathoo 9th April 1849 in his 64th year.”
Also buried here is the daughter of British army officer Henry Lawrence. His newborn daughter, Letitia Catherine Lawrence (November 16, 1840-August 1, 1841), had died of Malaria in Sabathu. Henry Lawrence had founded the Lawrence school in Sanawar for the children of British soldiers.
