Nikolskoe-Vyazemskoe, the ancestral estate of the Tolstoy family, belonged to the writer's ancestors on his father's side. It is located south of Yasnaya Polyana, in the Chern district, on the border with the Oryol region, by the Chernya River. According to legend, an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was found in the river, and the village was named Nikolskoe.

Later, 'Vyazemskoe' was added to the name, as the first owner was Prince Fyodor Vyazemski. Since 1747, Nikolskoe belonged to L. N. Tolstoy's great-grandfather, Prince Nikolai Ivanovich Gorchakov, a retired second lieutenant. When his daughter Pelageya married Count Ilya Andreyevich Tolstoy, the estate of Nikolskoe-Vyazemskoe was given to her as a dowry.

After the death of I. A. Tolstoy in 1820, the estate passed to the Guardianship Council due to debts, but in 1824 it was bought back by the writer's father. Nikolai Ilyich brought it into order and in 1836, fulfilling a vow made during the 1812 war, built the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1847, the lands were divided among his children, and Nikolskoe-Vyazemskoe with the village of Ploticino, 317 serfs, and 920 desyatinas of land went to Leo Tolstoy's elder brother Nikolai Nikolaevich. After graduating from the philosophy faculty of Kazan University, Nikolai joined the military service. In 1846, having received the rank of ensign, he went to the Caucasus. In 1858, he retired and settled in Nikolskoe-Vyazemskoe in a modest log cabin. During this time, I. S. Turgenev and A. A. Fet were frequent guests.

After N. N. Tolstoy's death in 1860, the estate passed to Leo Nikolayevich, who raised cattle, Crimean and Russian fat-tailed sheep, as well as bees. He also planted apple trees and a birch grove. Tolstoy often came to Nikolskoe-Vyazemskoe, rich in game and wildlife, for hunting. In the novel 'War and Peace,' the Rostov hunters, reminiscent of the Tolstoy family, go to the estate of Otradnoe, which is similar to Nikolskoe. Sergey Lvovich Tolstoy, L. N. Tolstoy's eldest son, recalled: 'Since childhood, Nikolskoe made a strong impression on me: dense forests, ravines, hilly fields, ancient poplars and pines in the apple orchard; the Chernya River, the mill, views of the river, forest slopes, fields, villages, and churches, large stones on the heights, all this was new and beautiful.'

On July 7, 1892, after L. N. Tolstoy renounced ownership, Nikolskoe-Vyazemskoe passed to Sergey Lvovich, who entered the service of the Chern district zemstvo. Under him, a village house was moved from the Alexandrovsky hamlet to the estate, which became the basis for the manor house. Sergey Lvovich lived in the ancestral nest until the summer of 1918, when Nikolskoe shared the fate of other burned and destroyed estates. Sergey Lvovich had to leave the estate and move to Moscow.

From that time, the former estate of the Tolstoys entered a period of oblivion that lasted until 1983, when the Tula Machine Engineering Plant took Nikolskoe-Vyazemskoe into a subsidiary farm. Four years later, the restored house-museum was opened. The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Tolstoy's tennis court, were partially restored, and later a cultural and tourist complex was created.

In 2000, the L. N. Tolstoy Museum in Nikolskoe-Vyazemskoe became a branch of the Yasnaya Polyana museum-estate. Currently, there is an exhibition dedicated to the history of the Tolstoy family in the context of Russian history.