Ilovlya

Ilovlya belonged to a Don Cossack settlement whose riverside location changed more than once. It already existed in 1672. An early site lay on the Don's left bank below the mouth of the Ilovlya, beside the Orekhov channel; a later settlement stood across the Don near Avilov-Zadonsky. Around 1768 the community moved again, to the site associated with the later stanitsa.

Church records accompany this history of relocation. In 1717 Moscow sent a letter of blessing and an antimension for the Church of the Intercession. In November 1768, residents reported that they intended to build a stone church at their new site and had already prepared several thousand bricks. Parishioners financed the work, with substantial donations from Fyodor Alikov for bells and the iconostasis. The older wooden church was moved to the new stanitsa in 1785. Repeated moves thus required the community to transfer its religious institutions as well as its homes.