Roots in the Old Country: The island whose fishermen settled in Gig Harbor

Searching for its roots, Gig Harbor is considering a sister-city relationship with an island off the coast of Croatia that sent many of the Peninsula’s first fishing families to the New World.

The island is Brač (pronounced “Bratch”), and like Gig Harbor has a strong fishing and boatbuilding tradition, an enclosed harbor, and quaint villages that have become popular with tourists.

Many of Gig Harbor’s early families emigrated from there, including the family of Peter Skansie, who founded a shipyard here.

Around 15 Gig Harbor families have come from the island, according to Linda Pilcher, a local historian.

“I would say about a third of our fishing families come from Brač,” said Pitcher, a retired anthropologist. Their names read like a page from a Gig Harbor phone book: Serka, Babich, Stanich, Dorotich, Gilich, Vlahovich.

In October, the Gig Harbor City Council approved a memorandum of understanding with Rotary Club of Gig Harbor North to explore opportunities for city city relationships with communities in Croatia and Norway.

“Croatians were the first permanent settlers we are aware of, and the first to come in significant numbers,” said Bob Anderson, the president of Gig Harbor Rotary North.

Norwegians followed, reminded by the settlement’s enclosed harbor of their native fjords.

Native Americans, of course, were already here, in a village at the head of the bay called Twa-Kal-Kut. The City Council recently took steps to recognize their contributions, including a sculpture in redwood that will stand near the site of the original longhouse. Several Croatian and Native American families intermarried, creating a diverse legacy that endures today.

Good business, too

A sister-city relationship is good for business, as well as cultural understanding, said Anderson.

“The relationship would encourage more communication and awareness and understanding between the two cities and regions around them,” Anderson said. “It also historically has developed tourism, trade business opportunities.”

Anderson helped form sister city relationship in 1990 with Smila, Ukraine and Newton, Iowa.

Around 20 years ago, Gig Harbor had a sister-city relationship with a city in Japan, run by a high school teacher in town. The teacher left town and the sister city relationship faded.

“The Rotary club provides stability because we won’t move out of town,” Anderson said. “The rotary clubs reach out to 200 current members and have lots of affiliation with other organizations.

Anderson added there are Rotary clubs in both Croatia and Norway.

Where is Brač?

Brač is one of literally dozens of Adriatic islands dotting the Croatian coast. At 152 square miles, it is among the largest, and has a population of about 14,400. The major town is Supetar, which has 3,326 residents. and the port is in a smaller town, Sumartin, which has only 491 year-round residents.

The population swells in the summer, though, when tourists and vacation renters flock to the island, which is only five miles by ferry from Split, a major tourist destination on the Dalmatian coast.

(Geography lesson: Dalmatia is a province of Croatia, which used to be part of Yugoslavia until that country broke up in 1992. In the 19th Century, when many immigrants came to America, Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had been roiled by revolution.)

One of the 491 people who live in Sumartin is Michael Vlahovich, a boatbuilder whose grandfather emigrated from Croatia to Gig Harbor. Decades later, Vlahovich went back, liked what he saw, and stayed.

“Sumartin is like ‘What do they do there? They catch fish and build wood boats,’” Vlahovich said in a telephone interview from the island last week. “For me, that was perfect.”

Brač is known for its quarries, and buildings are made mostly of limestone. The streets are cobblestone or dirt tracks, and residents keep track of the time of day by the church bells.

“There are all the shrines devoted to saints built in front of people’s houses. You walk down the path and see these shrines,” said Vlahovich. Croatia is 98 percent Roman Catholic.

“They live very simple lives, almost every has their own vegetable garden, and they care for them meticulously,” Vlahovich said. “People take a lot of pride in what they build and how they live.”

Vlahovich builts wooden boats at the Sumartin shipyard, using traditional methods.

“Sumartin is still archaic,” Vlahovich said. “We don’t lower in boats with a big, metal travel lift, it just takes a ton of manpower. There are some very traditional methods employed here. “What I see at the shipyard is what I am sure Gig Harbor was like at one time.”

There are vehicles in town, but most people travel by electric scooters or walk. Vlahovich says he no longer owns a car, choosing to rather walk like everyone else.

There are two grocery stores on Sumartin, both of which are very small, and not much to do.

“People visit a lot,” Vlahovich said. “They visit over their neighbor’s stone wall. If you stop at someone’s house you can’t just say ‘Hi,’ you’ve got to come in and sit down, the woman brings out the latest cake and the man brings out a pitcher of wine he made. It’s a really warming feeling.”

Vlahovich said there are five or six families in Sumartin that have a direct connection with Gig Harbor.

“Many of the people who immigrated from Sumartin to America learned their skills right here, and they brought those skills to Gig Harbor. The connection, in my opinion, is really powerful,” he said.

Council Member Robyn Denson was one of those who voted Oct. 12 to pursue a sister city. She sees it as an opportunity to enrich Gig Harbor’s understanding of its history.

“Croatia, Norway, these are the ancestors of so many people that make Gig Harbor what it is today,” Denson said. “Having a relationship with those people, it will bring such richness to our community and a better understanding of where we came from and what makes us so special.”

“I think if we had a sister city in Croatia it’s something the city can definitely promote,” Denson added. “We really promote our character as a fishing village. I am sure we can learn a lot from that community.”

Anderson said Rotary’s next step is to encourage others in the community to become involved with this sister city relationship. He’s working to create a small board of directors.

“We will put together a small board and go from there on how to create membership within the community. We don’t want this to only be a Rotary initiative, we want it to be a community initiative started by Rotary.”

Related story: The Gig Harbor boatbuilder who emigrated in reverse.

This story was originally published November 11, 2020 at 5:30 AM.