I read with great joy the news that Eric and Wendy Schmidt have purchased Mar y Cel, Henry Bothin’s water gardens and tea house. Bothin died in 1923 before the gardens were completed but his widow, Ellen, continued to use them for many years. When Keith and Kay Schofield purchased the property it was with the idea of restoring and completing the gardens.
I was lucky enough to be invited to visit Mar y Cel many times. Keith and Kay were very generous in loaning the use of the property to various nonprofits in town as a locale for fundraisers, and I led a history hike through the property for the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County and for the great grandson of Henry Bothin, who was writing a book on his famous relative. (Bothin’s philanthropy, by the way, was much in play after the Santa Barbara earthquake of 1925).
When Keith passed in April 1924, the future of this very special and unique property was unclear. So thank you Eric and Wendy Schmidt for continuing Bothin and the Schofield’s vision for this magical place.
