Almost all of the district lies in the basin of the Sukhona and its tributaries, including the Tolshma from the right and the Tsaryova and Yedenga from the left.

[10] The biggest one is the Bolshaya Chist Swamp located between the valleys of the Sukhona and the Tolshma and shared by Totemsky and Mezhdurechensky Districts and by Kostroma Oblast.

It was founded by Novgorodians, who used the Sukhona River as the main waterway leading to the north and eventually to the White Sea.

In the 13th century, salt production started around Totma, and the town, which was originally located downstream of the current place, was relocated.

In the 16th century, Totma was one of the most prosperous towns of the Russian North, due to its salt production and trade.

[12] In the 17th and 18th centuries, Totma was visited by Peter the Great three times, which was rather exceptional given the remote location of the town.

In particular, Ivan Kuskov, the first administrator of Fort Ross, a Russian fortress in California, was a native of Totma.

Instead, Totemsky District with the administrative center in the town of Totma was established as a part of Vologda Okrug.

[14] Paved roads connect Totma with Vologda via Kadnikov (southwest), Veliky Ustyug via Nyuksenitsa (northeast), and Nikolsk via Imeni Babushkina (east).

Before the road between Totma and Veliky Ustyug along the Sukhona was completed in the first decade of the 2000s, the only connection between the towns was via Nikolsk.

Totma is a historical town which preserved, along with other heritage, several churches, all of which have similar structure not related to any other region of Russia.

The district contains sixteen objects classified as cultural and historical heritage by Russian Federal law (twelve of them in the town of Totma), and additionally ninety-nine objects classified as cultural and historical heritage of local importance (seventy-four of them in Totma).

[19] Russian poet Nikolay Rubtsov spent eight years, from 1942 (age of 6) to 1950, in an orphanage in the selo of Nikolskoye of Totemsky District.