Natives of Kluki had Kashubian roots. In the Middle Ages, this community was a prevailing ethnic group in Western Pomerania. The group is thought to have origins in an area between the Odra and Parseta rivers. The name of Kashubia appeared in the 13th century and was incorporated into official dukes' naming convention. In the 16th century, during the Reformation, cultural and religious community of the Kashubian was split into Catholics and Protestants. Protestants quickly became a separate ethnic group called the Slovincian since the half of the 19th century. This name was given to the Pomeranian Kashubian by already mentioned Russian Slavic researcher and ethnographer, Aleksander Hilferding.

Soon, a term “Slovincian” became a name for those who lived in Kluki, Smoldzin, Gardna and another nearby towns. Inhabitants of Glowczyce and areas to the south of the Lebsko lake were named as Kabatkowie, however this name is no longer in use. A name Slovincian, well-known by inhabitants of Kluki and the surrounding neighbourhood themselves in the 19th century, became more and more forgotten. After the Second World War, it even brought negative associations to the local community. Nevertheless, in 1880, after his visit in Gardna Wielka, historian Alfons Parczewski wrote down: ”Old Dosza Jost (inhabitant of Gardna) clearly distinguished Slovincian from Polish and she said to me: I speak Slovincian and you speak Polish”. Residents of Kluki and Smoldzin used to say: „All the Kashubian are the Slovincian", thus using both names interchangeably. The name Slovincian took a permanent place in the history becoming a common term for a Kashubian population living in the Lebsko and Gardno lakes area.

Franz Tetzner, ethnographer from Leipzig, who visited Kluki at the end of the 19th century, wrote down that there are 40 farms in place with 550 inhabitants. In Kluki Smoldzinskie, 60 families lived at that time (250 people), in Kluki Zeleskie – 20 families (150 people) and in Kluki Cieminskie – 18 families (about 150 people too). He also described residents' everyday life and that is why we know how it exactly looked like. A long time ago natives lived mainly by fishing. Along with land improvement attempts for areas near lakes and drainage of nearby marshlands, farming, gardening and breeding became more and more important activities. In the village there were no significant differences in financial circumstances – the richest social group were householders (German Büdner) or house part owners (German Eigentümer). Rich peasants had the right to fish and graze animals in commune meadows. The poorest were workers called Tagelöhner, they rented rooms in farms. At that time in Slupsk, they were called “day workers”.

In Kluki, there was a fishing harbour for all the residents. However, at the time of fishing, fishermen lived in huts (solid shelters) in Boleniec situated in the isthmus between Lebsko and the sea. Some believe that in a period of an abundant catch and hard work no women were let inside as there was a strong belief that it would bring a bad luck. The Boleniec village was first reported in documents of duke Boguslaw X in 1558. Besides fishermen, whose profession often passed from father to son, another craftsmen lived in the village. A teacher, tailor, carpenter, pub owner Wirt. A pub itself was called Krug. Inhabitants' houses were not impressive – they were put up from wood and had thatched roofs. In a single house, there often lived two or three families.

Typically, such a house consisted of two rooms, a kind of passage, kitchen and pantry. External shelters should be also mentioned – they were ground-floor cellars (photo). The Slovincian did not build cellars below the surface level as the groundwater level was often only twenty-odd centimetres below it. These grounds were 0,5÷1,5 metre above sea level on average as even during the least intensive thaws houses and utility buildings flooded. This happened for example in 1893 when thaws after the violent snowstorm brought about a violent flood in the village. In 1905, a heavy sea storm flooded the area from Kluki Smoldzinskie up to Kluki Cieminskie.

In Kluki Smoldzinskie, there was a school founded in 1738 where lessons were run in only one class in an ordinary log cabin in the beginning. A separate building was given to the school in 1863. A rich written testimony to those times is the school annals. It tells that first teachers had Kashubian surnames: Pollex (from 1738), Heick (later in 1743), then Kluk and Gabej. Before he became a teacher, Pollex was a seaman but after an accident he became a disabled person and began to teach in the school. Later, only educated persons that had finished teacher training college first could become teachers. The irony is that despite an undoubtedly positive role education played in inhabitants' life, education system brought about disappearance of mother Kashubian and made native Slovincian ethnic qualities fade away.