The village of Tarakanovo is first mentioned in documents from 1627 as the estate of N.A. Zarotsky. Previously, it was called Vysokoye, likely due to its location on a hill. Until the end of the 18th century, the estate was owned by the Tarakanovs, after whom the village received its current name. In the 18th century, Tarakanovo became known among merchants and townspeople due to the annual November fair. From the late 18th century, the estate changed owners several times and gradually fell into decline.

Tarakanovo is part of the Alexander Blok Museum-Reserve and is located two kilometers from the Shakhmatovo museum-estate. The Church of Archangel Michael, built in 1695 under the steward N.F. Tarakanov, has been restored in the village.

In 1928, the church was closed and converted into a club. Wall paintings were visible for a long time through numerous layers of whitewash, but then the plaster was removed. In the 30s and 40s, the building was used as a vegetable storage. During the Great Patriotic War, the church suffered greatly: the blast wave destroyed the vault and part of the octagonal structure. Time completed the destruction.

Currently, the church is supposedly being restored. Once, it was the spiritual center of three estates of the museum-reserve and played an important role in the lives of the Beketovs, Bloks, and Mendeleevs. In 1902, the grandfather of Alexander Blok, A.N. Beketov, rector of St. Petersburg University and founder of the Russian botanical school, was buried here. In 1903, Alexander Blok and Lyubov Mendeleeva were married in the church.

Now, from the 'white church by the river,' only the walls of the main volume and the southern chapel remain. Restoration attempts were made as early as the late 1970s, but the ruins of the church still stand in a semi-dilapidated forest, and the vaulted ceilings continue to deteriorate.

Next to the church is a sculptural composition dedicated to Alexander Blok and Lyubov Mendeleeva, unveiled on August 3, 2008, during the 39th Blok readings.

The museum grounds also contain buildings from Blok's time: the zemstvo school and the teacher's house. These buildings are the only remaining historical monuments from that era.

Since the early 1870s, county zemstvos began actively opening new rural schools. The zemstvo school taught religious education, reading, writing, arithmetic, and singing. Progressive teachers provided knowledge in natural science, geography, and history. Initially, the schools had no permanent facilities.

In Tarakanovo, such a school opened on December 15, 1897, in the house of peasant Dmitry Pavlovich Zhukov. During its existence, it educated several generations of residents from nearby villages.

The manor house did not survive; by the time A.A. Blok visited, it was already in a dilapidated state. From the regular park on the estate, a rectangular pond remains.

With the establishment of the 'State Historical-Literary and Natural Museum-Reserve of A. Blok' in 1984, the Church of Archangel Michael, the former zemstvo school building, and the teacher's house became part of the museum complex. There is nothing else here.

The Tarakanovo estate is interesting for the atmosphere of poetry that always accompanies antiquity and abandoned places. One can only speculate who once walked here in ancient attire and what happened in these places. But did it really happen?