In the first half of the 16th century, Fetinino belonged to Afanasy Ivanovich Zubov, who passed it on to his sons Boris, Fyodor, and Stepan. The village's surviving stone Holy Trinity Church was built in 1763 by Afanasy Ivanovich's great-grandson, Nikolai Vasilyevich Zubov.
At the end of the 18th century, the estate belonged to Count and Lieutenant General Nikolai Alexandrovich Zubov (1763–1805), brother of Catherine II's last favorite, Platon Alexandrovich Zubov. Early in his reign, Paul I exiled the Zubov brothers from the capital.
While living on the estate, Prince Platon Zubov suffered from illness for a long time. To care for him during the summer and fall of 1799, almost his entire family moved to the estate. Soon, a large stone house was built in the village, financed by Platon Alexandrovich.
At the end of 1799, the Zubov brothers were reinstated in service, and the previously confiscated estates were returned to them.
At the end of the reign of Paul I, Nikolai Alexandrovich Zubov became president of the Stables Office. Under Alexander I, he was appointed Chief Horsemaster (i.e., head of all stables in Russia). After retiring in 1803, Count Nikolai brought several purebred trotters to his estate and began breeding horses.
N. A. Zubov was married to Natalya Alexandrovna (1775–1844), the daughter of the great Russian commander Alexander Suvorov ("little Suvorochka," as her father affectionately called her).
Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov visited Fetinino in early April 1797. In all likelihood, it was then that he planted the birch tree that became the beginning of the large village park. Old-timers in the village recall that the surviving birch grove was once called "Suvorov's." And during Soviet times, when the largest birch tree in this grove was cut down, a metal ring was discovered embedded in its trunk. It bore the inscription: "Planted by Suvorov."
After the death of N. A. Zubov in 1805, Fetinino was inherited by Natalia Alexandrovna. Left a widow with six children (Alexander, Platon, Valerian, Vera, Olga, and Lyubov), she often visited and spent long periods of time on the estate.
In the second quarter of the 19th century, Fetinino was a model estate, renowned far beyond the province's borders. During Natalia Alexandrovna's lifetime, the estate was renowned for its efficient management: the stables housed horses that won prizes in various competitions, pineapples were grown in the greenhouses, and a linden grove flourished near the village's Holy Trinity Church.
Translated by Google •
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