Verkhovazhye

Verkhovazhye takes its name from the upper Vaga, on whose bank the settlement grew. It was first known as Prechistensky Pogost after its church of the Dormition, and by the late sixteenth century as Verkhovazhsky Pogost. In the seventeenth century it became a trading settlement. The Vaga and the road between Moscow and Arkhangelsk carried people and goods past it, encouraging commerce and crafts in the upper river valley.