Nikolai Nikolayevich Smetskoy was a man who significantly contributed to the disappearance of debilitating fever from Abkhazia and the creation of harmony between the ancient forests of oak, alder, and hornbeam and the subtropical vegetation of the coast.

He came from a wealthy family of landowners from Kostroma. His father, Nikolai Pavlovich Smetskoy, was a major general and headed the Moscow Land Institute for a long time. His mother, Olga Ilyinichna Gribanova, was the daughter of a merchant who owned a factory in Vologda.

The Smetskoy family owned 40 thousand desyatins of land in the Kostroma province. Nikolai Nikolayevich was born on October 18, 1852, and was the youngest and most beloved son. All family members held progressive views, and his sister Nadezhda became a narodnik and was exiled to Siberia.

Nikolai Nikolayevich graduated from the law faculty of Moscow University but dedicated himself to forestry. Early in his career, he faced betrayal from a friend, but within three years, he managed to restore his affairs. In 1882, he married Olga Yuryevna Filimonova, who supported him in all his endeavors.

After Olga Yuryevna's surgery in 1889, the Smetskoys went to the Caucasus, where they stayed in Sukhum. The city, although it had an ancient history, was poorly equipped and suffered from malaria due to swamps. Nikolai Nikolayevich decided to drain the swamps and beautify the city.

In 1892, he acquired land by the sea and began planting subtropical plants, creating the Sukhum Arboretum. In 1895, he bought an estate in Gulripsh and established a park there. In 1900, he began constructing a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients.

Smetskoy used materials from Moscow and Kostroma for the construction. In 1902, the White Building of the sanatorium was opened, and in 1913, the Red Building. He also built a sanatorium in Agudzara, which later became a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients.

Smetskoy offered his sanatoriums as a gift to the state, but his proposals were not always accepted. After the revolution, he transferred his sanatoriums to the Soviet government. Nikolai Nikolayevich lived for ten years under Soviet rule, continuing to work on the improvement of the sanatoriums.

He passed away in 1931, and his wife Olga Yuryevna lived until 1940. In 1964, a monument to Smetskoy was erected in the Sinop dendropark.

In 1986, we visited the Sinop boarding house, and it was a true paradise. However, later came war and destruction. But we believe that peaceful days will return, and new generations will restore this beautiful land.