It is located about 10 km (6 mi) northeast of the town of Jõhvi, on the coast of Narva Bay (part of the Gulf of Finland).

[2][3] The first written record about the Toila area, in the Danish Census Book, mentions neighbouring Pühajõe as a tiny hamlet with a size of 6 hides.

[4] During the Great Northern War, Russian cavalry general Boris Sheremetev built reduits around Pühajõgi, to hinder Charles XII in approaching the Battle of Narva.

[2][3] At the end of the 19th century, Russian merchant Grigory Yeliseyev (who owned a store on the Nevsky Prospekt in St Petersburg) bought land for his new summer residence in Toila.

A palace in the Italian renaissance style designed by Gavriil Baranovsky and a large park by Georg Kuphaldt were established.