Pitea – My Ancestors

Today I took the bus to Pitea, where my great-grandfather was from. It was a 3 1/2 hour bus ride from Umea on a double decker bus! I had fantastic views from my seat upstairs in the front, what a treat to be able to relax and just enjoy the scenery instead of concentrating on the road. It was a beautiful drive that went quickly.

Soon I found myself in central Pitea, it was a short walk to the local church that is one of the oldest wooden churches in northern Sweden, built in 1684. Unfortunately it was locked so I wasn’t able to see the inside. There were very few gravestones, I didn’t find any with my family name, Oberg, on them. 

Luckily Pitea has a historical museum as it is one of the largest cities in northern Sweden, according to Wikipedia it’s the 58th largest city in Sweden with a population of about 23,000. Wow – I feel like the 58th largest city in the Bay Area has more than 23,000 people! Pitea is much bigger than when my great grandpa Linus left for America in 1902 when the population was less than 2,500. The museum had many books with photos going back to the late 1800s and a small scale city model from 1898 so I could get an idea of what it looked like when my ancestors lived here. There was also an exhibit of clothes by a local fashion designer, Hjördis Hjalmarsdotter Hjorth, who was known as the Dior of Sweden in the 60s. After visiting the museum I wandered through the main walking route through town, it’s now a very popular place for people to enjoy summer activities.

Next I hopped on a bus to Öjebyn, to try the local specialty, palt, at a restaurant called Paltzerian. Palt is a potato dumpling filled with chopped pork served with lingonberry sauce. There were three types to try – the traditional boiled version in a large ball, a fried chopped one with steak and the ‘blood’ version, blodpalt, which has pork blood added to the potato, making it a dark maroon color. Of course I tried all three, when in Rome, etc… I liked the traditional and fried versions, though they did make me feel a bit gluggy as they are quite heavy. I managed a few bites of the blodpalt. It didn’t taste bad per se, but was unusual, I’m sure in part because I knew what I was eating. Of course I eat red meat all the time, so it shouldn’t be strange to me. What the mind does to you! I had to laugh when in the gas station store next door I saw clogs for sale!

I was in need of a walk after lunch so checked out the nearby church, which was quite unusual in its set up with the altar in the middle of the church and the organ directly across from it on the ground level. There were pews on 3 sides both on the balcony and ground levels and beautiful paintings on the ceilings above the lower pews. Across from the church was the church town, originally the cottages were  owned communally by people whose main homes were distant from the parish church, so they had a place to stay when they came to church. Apparently most are still used by descendants of the original villagers on weekends and holidays. They all seem to be well taken care of with flowers and other decorative items in the windows and by the doors. I was able to look inside one that was set up as it would have been in the late 1880s complete with designs stenciled directly on the walls.

I headed back to the museum to get postcards for the family. There was a variety of postcards with pictures of Pitea taken before 1905, exactly what I was looking for. Then a set of notebooks with the name ‘Oberg’ on them caught my eye. The salesperson told they were made by a local artist, Alex Oberg, and the designs were inspired by famous women. I was so excited to discover them and quickly bought some up for my sisters. What an amazing find! I asked if they had anything else by her, but unfortunately, they didn’t and didn’t have any other information about her. But, it sounds like there are still people with the last name of Oberg who live in the area. I only wished I had more time to stay and explore.

I took the bus back to Umea, as I had not initially considered staying in Pitea. Though I it’s a little too touristy for me, obviously nothing like it was when my great grandfather lived here, I would like to come back for a few days with a car so I can explore some of the more rural areas where his family may have lived. I was able to snag another seat up in the front of the top deck of the bus and had another relaxing ride back to Umea.