Old Stone Mills on the Grab River

The Bugarin mill in the village of Grab, near Trilj, is a protected piece of Croatian cultural heritage. For three hundred years, the people of this region were fed and sustained by the stone mills that dotted along this stretch of the Grab River. While still in function today, the Bugarin mill is a must-see destination for tourists discovering the Dalmatian hinterland. The Voice of Croatia’s Majda Ivković visited the region in a story put together by Nikola Badovinac.

As explained to our own Majda Ivković by the Director of Tourism Board at Trilj, Andrijana Ivković, the story of the mills and the people of the region are uniquely intertwined. Agriculture and farming have thrived for thousands of years on this fertile stretch of land on either side of the Grab River - a smaller tributary of the mighty Cetina only a few kilometers away. The ruins of ancient Roman settlements nearby only help to confirm the importance of this area of the rugged Dalmatian hinterland that is blessed with an abundant supply of clean fresh water. 

The story of the mills - like everything around here - begins with the Grab River. And while farming has always been bountiful on this land, farmers used to travel great distances to have their grains ground into flour. 

Here’s how Adrijana Ivković explains it: “The entire history, including the five mills - of which only two are still in function - begins in the 17th century. Back in the 17th century, the people of this region and those who moved here lived exclusively off of agriculture. This means that the earth needed to generate some kind of income for the population. Therefore, the corn and the wheat they grew needed to be transported somewhere and turned into flour. And this is the beginning of the whole story: people saw the enormous potential of the abundant water in the region.” 

Around three hundred years ago, five forward-thinking families - of which the Bugarin are included - began building mills to make flour for the farmers who tilled the land nearby. And through a mutually beneficial barter system, the owners of the mills grew extremely wealthy.

“So towards the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18 centuries, they began to build mills. The five families who dominated this settlement became the wealthiest people in the region. Why? The people with the mills relied on the farmers and the farmers relied on the people with the mills. So there needed to be a diplomatic solution. The people with the mills were paid in flour - meaning ten percent of what they brought would be given to the mill.”

Unfortunately for the local economy and cultural heritage, the socialist focus on so-called industry and progress devastated the traditional way of life for the people along the Grab River. Factories producing plastics put the final nail in the coffin for the agriculture industry as farmers took up jobs downriver and the mills that ground the corn and wheat into flour fell silent. 

“All the mills were in function until sometime in the 20th century. Now only a few are still working. It’s a tradition around here to this day to get flour made at the mill and bake bread based on the old recipes. But most of this changed in the 20th century when factories came here and employed people from Trilj and forced people to slowly give up agriculture as they moved to more industrialized areas.” 

Luckily, locals are turning to the past for a sustainable future: Unique cultural heritage is a major draw for people looking for a little more on their holidays than just sun and sand. Now protected by the government, the Bugarin mill has undergone some renovations and is once again generating income for the region by giving tourists a look at a bygone era.

“Bugarin’s mill is something specific: it’s one of the five that are protected as part of the cultural heritage - which is great. It was renovated in 2006 with funds secured from the ministry of culture. The facade was redone but the inside still has the original stone canals through which the water flows; this still needs to be fixed and will probably be refurbished soon.”

Looks like the old mills will be helping the locals grind out a living for a few more generations to come.