The first records of Nerekhta date back to 1214, when children of Vsevolod of the Big Nest fought for it. In 1406 Nerekhta the grand prince Vasily I Dmitriyevich presented the settlement to his spouse Sofya Vitovtovna; at that time saltworks where already operating there.

About 1609 Nerekhta was burned down and devastated; according to the population census of 1627 half of the houses there were empty, and all saltworks were desolate. Salt production finally stopped in the 18th century. Till 1778 Nerekhta was a suburb of the Kostroma District, and then became a district city. According to the population census of 1764 rich merchants and prosperous handicraftsmen lived in Nerekhta; the city dwellers were engaged in farming and had 3 fairs and weekly markets.