The problem of abandoned villages in the Yaroslavl region, as well as other Russian regions, can be viewed from different angles, which is done in the social network. This is where this question comes up most often. But all points of view are united and worried by one thing: the statistics of the disappearance of "living" villages is alarmingly high. It is estimated that three thousand settlements die in Russia every year. Not individual households, but entire villages. True, according to the latest All-Russian census, up to 10 people lived in 36% of villages, and this is one step before complete disappearance.
Why do abandoned villages appear in the Yaroslavl region?
The ruin of Russian villages has deep historical roots. From the moment of collectivization, the peasants did not feel like free people, but there was still hope for a brighter future and still primordially Russian “where you were born, it came in handy.”
Of course, the war, which decimated the male population, and the program of the 60s of the last century to create "the largest farms in the world" contributed to the weakening of living standards. People moved to enlarged state farms, leaving settled small villages and farms. But today the desertion of villages is caused by somewhat different reasons.
Young people prefer urban life
In the villages of the Yaroslavl region, where life is still glimmering, there are mostly people over 50 years old. Their everyday life is a struggle for survival. The weakest point is the roads. They are in such a state - as a rule, in hard-to-reach settlements - that they are practically beyond repair. And if on the way there is a ravine or a river, then it’s quite a disaster. Hence the problems with medical care, education (if there are still children in the village), food (after all, it is impossible to produce everything on your own farm). There are no jobs, and if you are lucky with employment, then the salary is cheap.
Young people, full of strength and plans for the future, do not want to put up with the monstrous inconvenience at the domestic and social level. She moves, if not to cities, then to larger settlements with jobs, developed infrastructure, the opportunity to get an education and give it to her children. The guys who left the sparsely populated village for the duration of their studies, as a rule, do not return to their native places.
It remains the older generation to live out their lives in the old village. It’s good if grandchildren are brought on vacation, but there are suchvillages that have not heard children's voices for a long time.
Growing old villages, sow thistle, burdock, There are no flowers in the palisades, rowan trees are sad, And on a foggy morning the roosters are silent, At dusty noon there are no guys on the streets.
Tatiana Bondarenko
Expedition research - a new type of tourism
In order to study their native land and their historical roots, in search of adventures, events or new acquaintances, in the hope of finding interesting information, ancient objects or whole treasures, young people, alone or in a team, visit abandoned villages. There are many of them in the Yaroslavl region.
Getting to the end point of the route in an SUV (an ordinary passenger car will not pass), which adds adrenaline, or on foot, they post reports of the expedition trip on the Internet, share their impressions and information on special forums, communicate with like-minded people. Their articles and photographs are interesting even to people who are far from the topic. But before you go "for reconnaissance", you need to decide where to go.
How to find abandoned villages?
The theoretical base of the trip can be prepared by visiting and studying, as mentioned above, special sites and forums.
Experienced researchers of abandoned villages in the Yaroslavl region find such objects by reading schematic and satellite maps of the area. Abandoned roads, lack of power lines, broken roofs or overgrown fields and vegetable gardens are signs that researchers are guided by. There is suchinformation and on the maps of the General Staff, where tracts and non-residential villages are marked. In this case, in order to distinguish the tract from the former settlement, it is more reliable to superimpose the topographic map on the map of the General Staff. A tract is an area that is different from the surrounding area.
And finally, experienced trackers use local sources of information: the media, local history museums, conversations with local residents.
Research in the Yaroslavl region
Expedition trips carried out by enthusiasts give an idea of the state of affairs in the territory of the Yaroslavl region. There are reports of visits to abandoned villages in the Yaroslavl district of the Yaroslavl region, as well as Myshkinsky, Uglechesky, Poshekhonsky, Bolsheselsky and other regions. These settlements are still in the documents, the land plots have owners, but these are already uninhabited places.
In the village of Peremoshye, out of ten houses, two have survived, but no one lives in them anymore. Researchers found a letter from a mother from her son in one of the houses.
A narrow-gauge railway, built right after the war, once led to the village of Dor. Now only an embankment and a meter-long piece of rails remain from it. In 2007, 20 people lived here, now there are no residents. A couple of houses in a crumbling village are quite suitable for spending the night, there are even glass on the windows. But the only way to get here is on foot “or in a tank.”
The villages of the Rostov district of the Yaroslavl region, abandoned and useless, are in approximately the same condition.
The village of Kamchatka, which has Far Eastern roots in its name, appeared on the map in the 40s of the last century. The same Oktyabrskaya narrow-gauge railway was built here, intended for the export of timber. After the abolition of the railway line due to a decrease in the volume of work and the preference for road transport, life in a number of local villages came to a standstill. It is difficult to take the houses out of here, they are collapsing. But hunters and fishermen in these places expanse.
Ghost towns of the Yaroslavl region
In 1935, the decision of the USSR government to create the Rybinsk reservoir and flood hundreds of thousands of hectares of land determined the future of the city of Mologa and the surrounding villages.
On April 13, 1941, the last opening of the dam was blocked, and the waters of three rivers - the Volga, Sheksna and Mologa - overflowed their banks. But the ghost town did not become Russian Atlantis. The depths at which the buildings are located are not so great, experts call them "vanishingly small". Approximately once every two years, when the reservoir becomes shallow, city ruins are exposed: foundations, tombstones, surviving fragments of walls.
Memory of the flooded settlements
In Rybinsk there is a museum that keeps the memory of Mologa and 700 villages of the Yaroslavl district of the Yaroslavl region. In the ancient village of Breitovo, on the banks of the reservoir, a penitential chapel was built. It reminds of the temples and cathedrals that remained at the bottom. The village, which also fell into the flood zone, was moved to another place, and the solid structures, including religious ones, remained in place.
The significance of the Rybinsk reservoir can hardly be overestimated in the national economy, in the development of energy, in the country's defense capability in the 40s. But the "exit" from the water of the once flooded structures is perceived by the locals as a reproach.
