History of Kovachevitsa
The earliest registration of the area - for now - is from 1444. Nahiya has a center and includes 24 more settlements, but Kovachevitsa is not among them.
In the registers of Sanjak Pasha from 1478 – 1479, the village is also not noted, i.e. it was probably not yet subject to the Ottoman forms of administrative and military rule. It was noted 40 years later in the abbreviated register of timaras, ziamets and hasovs in the Livata Pasha from 1519, chap. 3 pp. 152 – 153 count 12 hanets (households) of infidels and one unmarried person in the village of Kovaceviche (near Pomesti). In 1530 it was noted again in the abbreviated registers of Sanjak Pasha ch. 3 p. 153 count 12 hanets (households) infidels and 1 unmarried.
In the detailed register of timars, zeamets, hass, farmsteads, mulks and waqfs in the kaazis and nahiyas on the territory of Sanjak Pasha from 1524 to 1537, the names of the taxed infidels are read: Stoyo Boyo, Ivan Stoyo, Todor Radoslav, Russo Stoyo, Radoslav Stoyo, Rusyu Staiko, Nokola Staiko, Rad Staiko, Stoyan Staiko, Dimo Staiko, Todor Staiko, Dimo Radich, Petko Dimo, Stoyo Bodur, Nikola Miho, Stoyo Mitrio, Dobro Mirko.
Milio Nikola, Stanko Dimi, Jovan Todor – unmarried.
Nearly 100 years later - in 1660 in the register (ch. 3, p. 155) the number of Christian households (inns) in the neighboring settlements significantly decreased compared to the village of Kovachevitsa, which increased almost threefold - in the village of Kovachevitsa there are 50 jessie inns.
In 1723, in the register for the collection of the extraordinary avariz tax (ch. 3, p. 155-156) in the village of Kovacovochir, 42 Christian inns and no Muslim inns were noted.
Regarding the historical chronology of the origin and development of the settlement during the distant eras, there are no reliable sources. According to some sources, before Kovachevitsa was established, people lived in four hamlets, near the current village - Lyuvadar, Old church, Kostadin and Dolno livade. There are also remains of ancient cemeteries. The slums are made up of refugees who have come from near and far places. Bulgarians who did not want to accept Islam sought salvation here - in the Western Rhodopes. One part came from the village of Gorno Dryanovo, another from the village of Ribnovo, a third from the villages of Debren, Oreshe, Dolen, Pletena and Satovcha, a fourth, forming the "Kostadin" hamlet, was composed of people who were forcibly evicted from Tarnovo and Tarnovsko. The latter were settled by the Mesta River even before the fall of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. The first settlers of the village of Kovachevitsa, according to historical folk memory, were refugees from the Kingdom of Tarnovo, defeated by the Ottomans (1393). Around the 16th century, settlers from Debarsko and families of Bulgarians from Omotsko, Slimnitsa and Dobrolishta, Kostursko found shelter in the village, who settled in the lower one, called Arnautska mahala. Kosturcani, builders by profession, founded the Kovachevsky school of architecture and construction. They built Kovachevitsa as it has been preserved to this day. There are two hamlets in the village - the upper (Tarnov) and the lower (Arnaut).
The most accurate information is from the Middle Ages and is related to the period of Bulgaria under Ottoman rule. For the first time his name was recorded in the Ottoman registers in the 15th - 16th centuries. In the list of settlements with registered names of heads of households in the second half of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, 17 persons were registered in the village of Kovachevitsa. People settle in several hamlets that are scattered over great distances. Another large wave of settlers is connected with the atrocities of the Ottoman government during the Mohammedanization of the Bulgarian population. After the burning of the village of Ribnovo, the surviving population settled in the upper part of today's settlement, around a spring, now a large fountain, which bears the name "Gypsy". The legend that gives the name of the settlement "Kovachevitsa" is connected with the wife of the first settler in the deaf forest, the blacksmith Marko from the village of Ribnovo - Gina Kovachevitsa. After his death, this woman probably continued to live there with her children and with the other refugees who joined. She was sought out for advice and help by many of her fellow villagers, so it became a household name to say: "I'm going to the Blacksmith's" when someone goes from the lower to the upper hamlet where the blacksmith's house is. One statistic of the male population from 1873 (ed. Ethnography of the vilayets of Adrianople, Monastir and Thessaloniki, issued in Constantinople in 1878) indicates the village of Kovachevitsa with 185 households and 630 men. The eaves of the roofs of the Kovachev houses are built so that they touch each other, and if a person walks along the roofs from the lower end of the village, he can reach the other. This is one of the ways of salvation from authorities and robbers. Another way to escape is the underground tunnel that goes under the houses and leads from the lower to the upper end of the village.
Livelihood Many important factors contribute to the rapid growth of the village, such as the availability of water (more than 15 springs and fountains), a mild climate, extensive pastures and a truly rich nature saturated with wild medicinal herbs and plant species. The land here is very fertile and is the mother of various apple, plum, cherry and walnut orchards. The growth of the settlement required the population to engage in various crafts. Those who came from the surrounding villages are engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. In contrast, those who came from Western Macedonia are engaged in carpentry. Agriculture and animal husbandry The livelihood of the village in the 16th and 17th centuries was animal husbandry and agriculture.
Agriculture
The mild climate and the availability of a lot of water allow the cultivation of various cereals such as rye, oats, barley, beans, lentils and yarrow (fee). Later - in the 19th and 20th centuries, they began to plant potatoes, corn and vines. It was plowed with a wooden plow and ox teams.
In addition to agriculture, animal husbandry was also developed. Every family had a team of oxen. Each family had a horse or mule to transport the produce and for other needs. There were no carts or other vehicles. Everything was transported by saddle. All the families kept goats, sheep and cows. Each family had no less than ten sheep. There were also many farmers with 200-300 or more herds. In winter, the herds wintered in Belomorska Thrace in Dramsko and returned to the village in the spring.
Tetim-kekhaya (Stoimen Tetimov) had 5,000 sheep grazing on his own property in the Vishteritsa area. The rural land extended all the way to the pre-spatial saddle, which created good conditions for the development of agriculture and animal husbandry.
Crafts
Carpentry
During the Arnaut migrations, the first master carpenters also arrived in the village of Kovachevitsa. The construction improvement of the settlement took place after their advent
Famous surnames
Дрянкови, Гюзлеви, Хорозови (много голям род), Бангови, Баневи, Йоржеви, Урдеви, Дразлеви, Тетимови (от Тетим – кехая), Папратилови, Костяневи, Карамфилови, Котово, Жангозови, Таушанови, Фиданини, Гьоргови, Главчеви, Чолакови, Жуглеви, Бенчеви, Шутеви, Чурилкови, Кондеви, Бълтакови, Пальови (животновъди), Поптомови
Famous locations
The areas around the village are called Urdova niva, Usoe, Milovada, Dobrava, Sveti Gheorgi, Golaba, Grasishta, Glyuvedare, Rodanevo, Kostadin, Gorno livade, Rudarya, Fandaik, Krastotina, Trebishte, Dolno livade, Milova livada, Gorchevitsa, Ogradeto, Ryakata, Varnobore, Gorchivitsa, Shimarovite mills, Ogradeto, Peralnyata, Chereshite na Valaiko, Vrachova plevenya, Goboitsa - it reaches Sarnitsa, Aluta - there was a cemetery there.
Kovachevitsa as described in Stoyan Zlatarev's travelogues
Stoyan Zlatarev was a teacher in the village of Kovachevitsa in Neurokop, then in the Ottoman Empire. Later he emigrated to Free Bulgaria. He made a donation of 1500 books in 1865. He is the father of Ludmil Zlatarev
Teachers from Macedonia. First row - from left to right, third Stoyan Zlatin (Zlatarov) - from Kovachevitsa.
Second row - Dimitar Barakov, third - Nikifor Popfilipov, fourth - Hristo Ivanov Daskalov