[5] The district is located at the divide between the Sukhona and the Vaga Rivers and belongs thus to the Northern Dvina's basin.

The northeastern part of the district lies in the basin of the Uftyuga River, the left tributary of the Sukhona.

Novgorod merchants used the Sukhona River as one of the main waterways leading to the White Sea and the Pechora.

[2] The area produced crops, and the Kokshenga and the Vaga were used to transport bread to Arkhangelsk.

In the course of the administrative reform carried out in 1708 by Peter the Great, the area was included into Vazhsky Uyezd of Archangelgorod Governorate.

Instead, Kokshengsky District with the administrative center in the selo of Tarnogsky Gorodok was established as a part of Vologda Okrug.

[11] Tarnogsky Gorodok stands on the paved road connecting Oktyabrsky in Arkhangelsk Oblast in the north with Totma in the south and Veliky Ustyug in the east.

A short stretch of the road connecting Vologda and Veliky Ustyg runs within the limits of the district along the left bank of the Sukhona.

[clarification needed][15] Artist Dzhanna Tutundzhan lived in the village of Sergiyevskaya from the 1960s until her death in 2011, and many of her canvasses were inspired by the surrounding landscapes.