CITY LEGENDS

"On the bank of bleak waves …"

Meanwhile, since the Novgorod times here was more than thirty Finnish and Russian villages in which in XVI century lived more than five thousand settlers. They fished, hunted, processed the earth.

The big Russian village Spassky with orthodox church and two villages Sebrino and Vralovshchina settled down on high left coast of Neva, opposite to Nienschanz.

There are Smolnyj and Taurian palaces at present now. There was a road on the south cut through in woods to Novgorod and Moscow from this place.

The most part of villages (mainly - Finnish) were on the right coast of Neva (the Vyborg Side), below Nienschanz, and on the left coast - above Spassky village (the Aleksandro-Nevsky monastery).

On coast of Neva there were also some manors of the Swedish landowners.

One of them, belonging Konau, with the big garden, settled down at a source of Anonymous Erik (the river of Fontanka).

Here Peter has arranged the Summer palace and the Summer garden in further.

Other Swedish manor was opposite - on Birch island. Here now the Troitsk Square.

On low located and boggy islands of the Neva delta almost was no settlements. Only Russian village Kalina (Guelder-rose) was at a mouth of Big Erik (at present Kalinkin bridge through Fontanka located here).

On Vasilevsky island the hunting lodge of Delagardi was settled down.

In the Petersburg only few ancient names have remained. The indigenous population was already rather not so numerous.

After the city foundation there arrived the working, military, trading people from the different parts of Russia who were not knowing old names .

But names of the rivers have remained: Neva, Okhta and an island: Vasil'evsky. In vicinities names Lahta (the ancient village known since 1500), Toksovo with the lakes, the river of Strelna, the river of Tosna have remained.

Without suspecting about the urban future, led the existence the villages of Sabirino and Odintsovo, Kuharevo and Maksimovo, Volkovo and Kupchino ...

Source:
Three centuries of St.Petersburg: Encyclopaedia