Remote Pogorelovo Wood Mansion with no Road Access

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Chukhloma, Kostroma Oblast, Russian Federation

Continuing our trek thru the Chukhloma forest and abandoned homes we reached as far as we could get by road. We found someone in a home who was able to give us directions for how to continue on foot to the second Wood Palace.

We started out on foot thru logging tracks. It was easy to walk at first as the weight of the trucks had pressed the mud but further along it got more wet, muddy, and harder to traverse.

It was a good job I had wellies from the hotel as walking in my own shoes would have been a write off. The wellies where going almost all the way into the mud and would sometimes get stuck so I would have to pull myself out. If I was wearing shoes they would be lost in the foot deep wet mud.

River

Crossing River

We then came to a river we had to cross. It looked deep and I thought it would come to my waist. I had to empty my passport and wallet from my pockets in case. It wasnt too deep but did pass the top of the boot and the ice water came pouring in filling the boot. Everything was soaked and I had to ring out my socks and the boot lining on the other side.

Arrival

View of Home

The house was very close to the river so luckily no more wilderness trekking. Tony had to call out to see if the owner was home. Fortunately he was. This was also Tony's first visit.

Anatoly spoke perfect English as he worked as an interpreter. He bought the house in the 1970s and uses it as a summer residence. He is an artist and spends time slowly restoring the property.

The home was built in 1903 by a wealthy peasant. During Soviet times it was taken over and used as a school. The family was forced to live in one room. Today they no longer have interest in the property.

The comparison to the Astashovo Wood Palace hotel where we were staying was stunning. While the modernized hotel we stayed at was comfortable this shows how the original features would have looked in the decaying home. All of these qualities were lost in the hotel where we stayed.

After all the trekking in the mud and crossing the river on foot it was worth the legwork to get here. Both me and Tony were very impressed but in typical Russian style Tony displays no emotion!