I live in the small town called Novaya Usman near Voronezh. I want to tell you about an amazing place, formerly called Otradnoye Estate (this place is located on the M4 Don highway in the territory of our village, map coordinates 51.624517, 39.362673).
This estate emerged at the beginning of the 19th century and belonged to one of the representatives of the ancient baronial family Stahl von Holstein – Nikolai Alexandrovich and his wife Sophia Fyodorovna, whose story is particularly interesting. The Baroness was the daughter of Fyodor Alexandrovich Andrault de Langeron, President of Warsaw, and Anna Alekseevna Olenina – a maid of honor, the beloved of A.S. Pushkin, who dedicated several of his famous poems to her. The great Russian poet even proposed marriage to Anna Alekseevna, but was refused. If she hadn’t refused this proposal, Alexander Sergeevich’s life might not have been tragically cut short, and his descendants would have had the opportunity to enjoy dozens of other works by the genius. But alas, history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood, so let’s return to the Stahl von Holstein couple. Their cozy dacha-type house was built of red brick, produced at the factory of Nikolai Alexandrovich’s brother, and each brick had a stamp with the initial “SH”, which was a sign of good quality. Inside, the dwelling was decorated with stucco, patterned wallpaper, photographs of ancestors, and many indoor plants. The house was not large – for the owners, it served more as a dacha, which they loved to visit at any time of year.
After Sophia Fyodorovna’s husband passed away, and the children started their own families, she remained alone at the estate with the servants. Every morning, the Baroness would go for a ride on white horses with borzoi dogs and often visited her friend L.V. Gontover, who lived in the estate located on the site of the present-day settlement “Otradnoye”. Her life proceeded quietly and peacefully until, in January 1918, the elderly woman was expelled from her own house by Red Guard workers. Sophia Fyodorovna died in utter poverty. Even the coffin for the kind lady was cobbled together by peasants from her own gates. In 1956, the breeding enterprise “Voronezhskoye” appeared on the site of the estate, and it continues to operate to this day. 
Currently, only a few semi-ruined buildings remain of the estate:
- the house with a mezzanine
- the servants’ wing,
- the stables
- the mill
- the bathhouse building,
- as well as the pillars from the entrance gates.
All of this is private property of local residents.
Every day, when I see this reminder of the noble era, I think about how wonderful it would be to see photographs or a painting of these places from 100 years ago.
Artists! This is a space for your imagination and inspiration! A pine alley leading to the main gates, lilacs blooming everywhere, the master’s house with the family coat of arms, standing on a hill that offers a beautiful view of the meadow and the river…
It’s a pity that we lost all this. I am firmly convinced that history cannot be destroyed and its fragments eliminated. It is our duty to carefully preserve the heritage of Russia and provide our descendants with the opportunity to see and know the history of their homeland.
Oksana Pysenkova Photos by the author
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