Merchant Totma: From Salt Works to Sea Discoveries

17 points7 km0 hours

This route introduces you to the unique salt-making trade that made Totma one of the richest towns of the Russian North. This old town of seafarers and explorers also preserves the memory of the Totma merchants who conquered Alaska and California. We'll begin the tour at “Totma Salt,” a cultural and historical landscape complex in the village of Varnitsy, Totma District, Vologda Region. It introduces the ancient salt-making trade, which played an important role in the town's development. Here you'll learn all about salt making and see open-air museum exhibits and the Kokorev Garden. The route was prepared as part of the “Vsyako Doyedem” (“We'll Get There Anyway”) project.

Route author

Yulia Drugashkova

Things to do

История
Парки
Ремесло

Route points (17)

Kokorev Garden in Totma

Point on route “Merchant Totma: From Salt Works to Sea Discoveries”

Point 1

Kokorev Garden

📸 Take photos • 🌲🦋 Enjoy nature • 🗺️🎒 Themed route

History

The Kokorev Garden is a public space in the village of Varnitsy. It occupies the site of the former estate of the Kokorevs, a family of merchants and patrons of the arts. Until the 1930s the garden belonged to the owners of the saltworks.

How Did It Come About?

In 2023 the garden was revived by the Salt of the Earth Foundation with the support of a presidential grant. Footpaths were laid, a lighting system was installed, benches, swings, and animal figures were put in, and more than 100 ornamental shrubs and flowers were planted. The Kokorev Garden is a place worth strolling through in any season. You can feel like a fairy-tale hero, or perhaps a poet, and watch the starry sky. And on a warm summer night you might catch the moment when the Mexican cactus called the “Queen of the Night” bursts into bloom.