PLACES OF INTEREST

DAPOLI

 Dapoli or Camp Dapoli (17° 45' N, 73° 10' E; p. 3,958), the head-quarters of Dapoli taluka, stands on an open plain, about eight miles south-east of Harnai and 17 miles north-west of Khed. The nearest railway station is Karad, 99 miles to the south-east. The camp or, as it used to be called cantonment, is formed out of part of the lands of the four villages of Dapoli, Gimhavna, Jogele, and Jalgaon. In 1818, Dapoli was fixed as the military station of the southern Konkan. In 1840, the regular troops were withdrawn. A veteran battalion was kept till 1857, and when this also was abolished, [Nairne's Konkan, 129.] the cantonment was broken up. The climate is throughout the year cool, healthy, and free from epidemic diseases. It has been described as little Mahabaleshvar of Ratnagiri district. The camp and market are well-supplied with drinking water. Except a few articles brought for local use from Harnai and Khed, there is no trade. A small well-kept market contains groceries and miscellaneous articles. Dapoli has no manufactures. Good coarse pottery and coarse cotton cloth are made in the neighbouring village of Jalgaon.

In 1862, the headquarters of the old Suvanadurg sub-division was moved from fort Goval at Harnai to Dapoli. Besides the offices of the mamlatdar, the sub-judge, and the chief sub-divisional police offices, there is, to the north of the camp a civil hospital, a library, a Roman Catholic chapel (Recently restorations are made by the Archaeological department, Government of India), a post office, a vernacular school, two High Schools, (1) Alfred Gadney High School, (2) National High School, and a large rest-house. Here also are the remains of the former military lines and the old and still habitable quarter guard. In a corner of the open plain, and divided from the market by the Harnai-Khed road, stands in dilapidated condition one of the chief features of the by-gone days, the picturesque old English church with a square tower and belfry. In 1878, the Societies for the Propagation of the Gospel removed their orphanage from Bombay to Dapoli. At present, the missionaries have left the church.

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