While many historic sites can be found around the Goleta Valley, one that was more recently designated as a historic landmark on the Santa Barbara County register, the Main-Begg Farmhouse, is getting closer to fully opening, offering tours of the house that was built in 1911.
The Main-Begg Farmhouse in the Goleta Valley — located at 5001 Hollister Ave. — was built by building contractor John Williamson from the plans of the property’s owners, Robert and Jane Main. The underground cistern, which collects and stores rainwater runoff from the roof gutters, was built between 1912 and 1920, and the garage was built in 1959.
A garden with a variety of fruit trees, shrubs and flowers is also part of the property.
The Mains immigrated to Santa Barbara from Scotland in 1887, and throughout the years, Robert Main worked as a ranch foreman and later a superintendent for Corona Del Mar Ranch, as well as operating his own ranch.
Main also helped form the County Farm Bureau, the Goleta Threshing Co. and the Good Roads Committee, as well as serving several other roles within the Goleta Valley community in the early 1900s.
After Robert and Jane Main’s deaths in 1930 and 1949, respectively, the farmhouse’s next occupants were one of their daughters, Carrie Main Begg, and her husband, David Begg, followed by several successive generations of Main-Beggs.
Chuck Begg, who died in 2008, was the last adult descendant of the Main-Begg family to live in the farmhouse.
The nonprofit organization that now runs and preserves the farmhouse acquired the property in 2019 and restored the house, although Main-Begg Farmhouse Board of Directors president Robin Hill Cederlof told Noozhawk that there wasn’t much work needed as the house was “well taken care of” by the family.
The house and cistern of the Main-Begg Farmhouse were designated as a Santa Barbara County Historic Landmark in 2020 — the first landmark to be designated in the Goleta Valley since 2003, Cederlof noted.
“[The farmhouse] is our pride and joy. We’re so thrilled to be saving it,” Cederlof said. “So much of our history is getting lost. … It is a really important part of Goleta history.”
Along with preserving the property and offering tours, the foundation also aims to open the farmhouse for community gatherings or meetings, such as weddings, club meetings, recitals and more.
“We really want to have this house available to the community,” Cederlof said. “We consider it a community center.”
Photographs of the Main-Begg family are displayed throughout the house, as well as books and furniture that were important to the family.
While a kitchen flood in early November — caused by plumbing issues, leading to the ceiling sagging — set the foundation back, they are quickly repairing the kitchen and working toward further opening the house to the public. The foundation is aiming to open by February.
The farmhouse is open for tours — with reservations required — on the second Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Cederlof said that an extra hour will be added in January, and tours are booked through March or April, although she said she is happy to accommodate other tours, and people can email or call through the website.
The next big project for the property is converting the garage into a multipurpose room with an ADA-compliant bathroom, Cederlof said, and other future projects involve restoring the porches, windows and kitchen floors, raising money to install new shades to protect the inside of the house, putting on a roof more appropriate for the time period, and adding ADA pathways and a lift, among other restoration projects.
Cederlof also told Noozhawk that the foundation was recently informed that the Main-Begg Farmhouse had been nominated and selected to receive the George and Vivian Obern Preservation Stewardship Award from the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, which will be awarded at the end of January.
More information on the farmhouse and its history, as well as on signing up to visit the Main-Begg Farmhouse, can be found on its website.