Main-Begg Farmhouse in the News
Goleta history experts (from left) Robin Hill Cederlof, Ronald Nye, and Fermina Murray on the porch of the Main-Begg Farmhouse
Credit: Matt Kettmann
Nonprofit Forms to Protect and Promote Hollister Avenue Home as Region’s Preservation Efforts Enter New Phase
Santa Barbara Independent, September 28, 2023
by Matt Kettmann
Living in the shadow of the preservation juggernaut that is Santa Barbara, the Goleta Valley’s history scene always felt a bit quaint and quotidian, a tale of forgotten farms, changing crops, and rusty railroads subsumed by subdivisions and strip malls. But beneath that seemingly simple surface are complex chapters of horticultural heroes, hardworking families, and a community that emerged from diverse cultures, leaving legacies that continue to reverberate today.
Article in the Pearl Chase Society Newsletter
THE CAPITAL, Vol. 26, No. 7, July 2023
Pearl Chase Society’s $7,000-plus donation check to the Main-Begg Farmhouse is proudly shown Wednesday in front of the Goleta Valley house.
Photo: Kenneth Song, News-Press Photos
Santa Barbara News-Press, March 17, 2023
by Katherine Zehnder
The Pearl Chase Society is continuing its efforts to preserve historic architecture, and this time the beneficiary is the Main-Begg Farmhouse in the Goleta Valley.
Emma Brinkman, a member of the Pearl Chase Society board, presented a grant check for $7,450 Wednesday afternoon to the treasurer and board members of the Main-Begg Farmhouse on behalf of the Pearl Chase Society. The money will go toward restoration of the porch at the historic landmark, which is at 5001 Hollister Ave.
Pictured left to right: Anne Petersen, Michel Nellis, Katie Brewer, Fermina Murray, Robin Cederlof, Ronald L. Nye, Anthony Grumbine
(source: SBTHP).
The Main-Begg Farmhouse received the 2023 George & Vivian Obern Preservation Stewardship Award from the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation.
The George and Vivian Obern Preservation Stewardship Award recognizes individuals or organizations that demonstrate outstanding preservation work in connection with a specific project in and around Santa Barbara County. This prestigious award was named in honor of George and Vivian Obern in 2006 for their lifelong preservation work, including their successful efforts to save the Thomas Hope House (built 1875, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978), condemned by the county of Santa Barbara but saved by the Oberns.
The award was presented at the SBTHP Annual Meeting on Saturday, January 21, 2023 in the Presidio Chapel.
Nonprofit organization that is preserving the property built in 1911 hopes to make it a ‘community center’
Noozhawk, December 30, 2022 by Serena Guentz, Noozhawk Staff Writer
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.
January 23, 2023
My paternal great-grandmother, Carrie (Main) Begg, was a horticulturist and master gardener in Goleta. She wouldn’t have called it Feng Shui but she understood energy, how to nurture it, and how to sustain it. Her house, gardens, and orchards were respected by the community as treasured sanctuaries of harmonious beauty. They were a source of pride for my fathers family.
I moved away from the area in 1977 and lost touch with the family and property. I knew the house was kept in the family but wasn’t sure what shape it was in. At our family gathering on Thanksgiving we talked about the house and memories of living in the neighborhood…