Every summer, thousands of visitors climb the winding road up to Murree for the cool air and the pine-covered views. Fewer stop to think about why a hill station exists there at all - or how a small ridge in the Galyat became one of the subcontinent's most storied retreats.

Murree's story starts in the 1850s, when the British, having recently taken control of Punjab, went looking for a hill station close to their new territory - somewhere officers and their families could escape the brutal summer heat of the plains.

The site they chose, a ridge at roughly 7,500 feet, checked every box: accessible from Rawalpindi, cool through the summer months, and far enough from the heat and disease of the lowlands. By 1851, Murree had been established as a sanatorium and summer retreat for the British garrison.

Like most colonial hill stations, Murree grew around its Mall Road - a promenade lined with churches, government buildings, and shops, built specifically for the leisure of the summer residents.

Locals, notably, were for a long time barred from walking certain stretches of it at certain hours, a detail that says a lot about the town's original purpose. Landmark structures from this era, including Holy Trinity Church, still stand today, giving Mall Road its distinct colonial character even now.

Murree briefly held a role far bigger than its size suggests: after independence, it served for a short period as a summer seat of administration, with government offices relocating there during the hottest months - a tradition inherited directly from colonial practice.

That chapter didn't last, but it cemented Murree's reputation as more than just a scenic getaway.

Lokal x Murree Heritage

Walk Mall Road today and the layers are still visible - colonial-era churches and cottages sitting alongside modern hotels and restaurants, ridge-top viewpoints like Kashmir Point that once served as lookout spots for the garrison, and the old bones of a town literally built for people trying to escape somewhere else.