In the summer of 1765, Catherine II, accompanied by Count Grigory Orlov, traveled along the Volga on the galley "Tver" and visited the village of Golovkino, where Count Ivan Orlov lived. According to legend, the locals amazed the empress: they covered the road for 12 km from the pier to the village with salt and transported Catherine in a sleigh, as in winter. The sleigh glided easily and smoothly, as if on snow. Catherine spent the night in a new house, specially built for her arrival in the form of a terem made of two connected huts. Upon returning to St. Petersburg, pleased with the reception, she allocated funds for the construction of a stone palace and church on the site of the wooden house, and also exempted the peasants involved in the construction from taxes for three years.

The palace and church were erected according to the design of the famous architect Bazhenov and became architectural monuments adorning this region. After the revolution, the palace was dismantled, and the church, which stood until the 1950s, was submerged by the waters of the Volga reservoir along with the village.