Nerekhta

Nerekhta lies near Kostroma in a region of rivers, farmland and roads linking the upper Volga towns. Salt production was an important part of its early economy: the first written reference to salt boiling at Nerekhta dates to 1423. By the sixteenth century roads connected the settlement with Kostroma, Yaroslavl and other centres.

In the eighteenth century linen manufacture became another source of local employment and trade. Merchants Pastukhov and Lapshin-Gryaznovsky established a linen factory in 1761, and its cloth reached markets within Russia and abroad. Nerekhta became a district town in 1778, joining an administrative role to its established crafts and commerce.