In 1923, Ilya Lvovich Tolstoy, son of the famous writer Leo Tolstoy, purchased a plot of land at the confluence of the Pomperaug and Housatonic rivers. In 1925, this place was visited by Siberian writer Georgy Dmitrievich Grebenshchikov, who was enchanted by the wooded area reminiscent of Russia. He decided to create a settlement for Russian writers, artists, and scholars and bought the land from Ilya Tolstoy. That same year, Grebenshchikov acquired another 100 acres at a price of 10 to 15 dollars per acre and named the place Churaevka after a fictional Siberian village. Financial support for the construction and development of the community was provided by composer Sergei Rachmaninoff and aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky.

The first residents of Churaevka spent the summer in tents among ancient trees while their houses were being built. They especially liked the birches growing in the area. In his work 'The Courier,' Grebenshchikov describes how he built his house in Churaevka, hewing logs and setting up a printing house. In 1932 and 1933, a small chapel made of fieldstone was erected according to a design by Nikolai Roerich.

The 1930s and 1940s became the most vibrant period in Churaevka's history. After World War II, Russian emigrants of the second wave arrived here, purchasing land for 45 dollars an acre.

In 1988, Churaevka was added to the National Register of Historic Places as one of Connecticut's landmarks. Thanks to funds from the Federal Historic Preservation Agency, the iconostasis in the chapel was restored and its dome was gilded anew.