Where, where? In Non-Moscow! The village of Morozilka
The village of Morozilka was in the competition for the funniest name of a populated area. took third placeIt is located 11 kilometers from the regional center of Mezen in the Arkhangelsk regionThe place is beautiful—a swamp, forest, mushrooms and berries, fish, and wild animals. But it's incredibly cold: it stands on the banks of the Mezen River, which flows into the White Sea. With every gust of wind and rising tide, the Freezer becomes as chilly as the refrigerator compartment of the same name. But that's not where it got its name.
In the 1920s, the "settlement" consisted of a single hut, inhabited by fishermen on a rotating basis. In 1936, built The Fish Processing Plant's base, which housed a salmon icehouse—preserved using an ice-salt mixture—gave its name to the village, which began to expand with the arrival of people. Fishing crews caught up to 700 kg of salmon per day, all of which was shipped to Arkhangelsk. Later, other fish were also caught and smoked here, but in 1969, the base was closed: workers sent a poor-quality batch of smoked herring to the regional center. The equipment was transported to another village, and the residential buildings and social facilities were moved to Mezen. Following this, the village began to decline: while 63 people lived there in 1970, by 2012, only eight remained. Seven years earlier, only two pensioners lived there.
"And then the ships gradually stopped sailing, everything closed. Everything that was there: the workshops, the elementary school, the kindergarten, the club, the post office, the medical center. And there are fewer and fewer people left, there's no work. Now Fedya and I are going to die, and the only people who will go to Morozilka will be in the summer—just to their dachas."- I told one of them, Ivan Lebedev.
The pensioner learned about Morozilka's participation in the contest for the funniest town name from the TV news. He didn't vote because he doesn't find it funny or ridiculous, but he does say the story of the extinction is not funny.
By this year, he was the only one left in the village.
— The second pensioner, unfortunately, is no longer here, but Lebedev is alive and well, — a resident of a neighboring village told NeMoskva village of Kamenka. - In the summer, summer residents flock to Morozilka, and about ten houses become habitable. It's understandable: our area is beautiful, and Kamenka is not far away—if you're heading back to civilization for groceries or other errands, that is.
Incidentally, tourists won't be able to take a selfie next to the "Freezer" sign: there's no such sign. There's only the exit sign—"Freezer"—crossed out with a red stripe. As if it no longer exists.
Photo: Dmitry Fedotov
