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Foxen Canyon Road

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Foxen Canyon Road is a twenty-nine-mile rural highway located in Santa Barbara County.  The corridor begins at the eastern outskirts of Santa Maria and terminates near Ballard Canyon Road in Los Olivos.  Foxen Canyon Road is named after William Benajmin Foxen who took ownership of Rancho Tinaquaic in 1842.   Foxen Ranch would serve as a major stage station beginning in 1861.  

Foxen Canyon Road during much of the California Gold Rush was part of the main highway between Santa Maria Valley and San Marcos Pass.  The highway from Santa Maria to Sisquoc would serve as part of Legislative Route Number 148 beginning in 1933 and would be reassigned as California State Route 176 in 1964.  California State Route 176 would be deleted in 1984 which rendered Foxen Canyon Road as being fully maintained by Santa Barbara County.  




Part 1; the history of Foxen Canyon Road

Much of Foxen Canyon Road lies in the Sisquoc River Valley between the cities of Santa Maria and Los Olivos.  Prior to European contact the valley was inhabited by the Chumash tribe.  The name "Sisquoc" is the Chumash word for "Quail." 

Foxen Canyon Road is named after well-known northern Santa Barbara County settler William Benjamin Foxen.  Foxen was born Norfolk, England in 1796 and served for a time in the British Navy.  During 1815 Foxen first visited San Francisco and later would journey to Santa Barbara in 1818.  During 1828 Foxen would become locally renown after repairing the schooner Goleta at the port of Santa Barbara.  

Foxen would later visit Rancho San Ysidro Ranch to pick up hides from Tomas Olivera.  Olivera was the superintendent of three Alta California Ranchos and had a stepdaughter named Eduarda Osuna.  Foxen would ask for Olivera's blessing to marry his daughter but was initially rejected due to not being a Catholic.  Foxen would subsequently be baptized a Catholic and would become a naturalized Mexican citizen.  Following Foxen's conversion he would go onto marry Olivera's daughter circa May 1831 in Santa Barbara.  

In 1842 Foxen was granted the 8,847-acre Rancho Tinaquaic by the governor of Alta California.  Much of the land holdings of Rancho Tinquaic were located in the then unnamed canyon of Sisquoc Valley.  Foxen would construct an adobe home on his land and the canyon would come to bear his name.  The so-called "Foxen Canyon Road" even served as an inland alternative to the earlier established routing of El Camino Real (a name long then unpopularized in Alta California) between San Marcos Pass and Santa Maria Valley.  

Foxen would sell horses to United States Amry Major John C. Fremont during the Mexican-American War.   Foxen would later warn Fremont of a Mexican Army ambush awaiting in Gaviota Pass and advised using San Marcos Pass (now California State Route 154) to reach Santa Barbara.  The story is documented in the August 1936 California Highways & Public Works.  The article includes photos of the Foxen monument, a Fremont Expedition map of Foxen Canyon Road, the Sisquoc Church and Foxen grave site. 










The Mexican Ranchos were ultimately honored by the United States Federal Govnerment and the State of California which included the holdings of Benjamin Foxen.  Foxen Ranch would establish stage stop and store during 1861.  Foxen would later die of an infected spider bite during 1874. 

Foxen Canyon Road can be seen as a major highway on the 1882 Bancroft's map of California.  The town of Garey would be founded in western Foxen Canyon in 1889.  


Foxen Canyon Road would remain the main path of travel between Santa Maria Valley and San Marcos Pass into the early twentieth century.  The main north/south highway corridor was shifted west through Santa Maria Valley following the passage of the 1909 First State Highway Bond Act.  Legislative Route Number 2 (later US Route 101 by 1926) was commissioned as a major north/south State Highway between San Francisco and San Diego.  The routing of the State Highway passed through Santa Maria Valley as opposed to Sisquoc Valley due to it lining up better with Gaviota Pass. 

Sisquoc was founded in 1910 on Foxen Canyon Road.  The community was commissioned to service the then recently discovered Cat Canyon Oil Field.  A refinery was constructed to the community, and it was serviced by a spur of the Pacific Coast Railroad out of Santa Maria.  Foxen Canyon Road can be seen as a major local highway east of Legislative Route Number 2 (the red line) on the 1917 California State Automobile Association map.  


In 1933 Legislative Route Number 148 would add a portion of Foxen Canyon Road to the State Highway System.  The highway carried an initial description of "Legislative Route Number 56 near Guadalupe to Sisquoc via Santa Maria."  East US Route 101 (Broadway) in Santa Maria the routing of Legislative Route Number 148 followed Stowell Road, Philbric Road and Foxen Canyon Road to Sisquuoc.  

Early Legislative Route Number 148 between Santa Maria and Sisquoc can be seen on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Santa Barbara County.  Foxen Canyon Road east of Sisquoc to Los Olivos is shown as a major county highway.  


As part of the wider 1964 State Highway Renumbering the Legislative Route Numbers were dropped.  The segment of Legislative Route Number 148 between the US Route 101 freeway near Santa Maria to Sisquoc was reassigned as California State Route 176. 

California State Route 176 appears for the first time on the 1964 Division of Highways map.  



California State Route 176 would receive a relaxed definition of "Route 101 near Santa Maria to Sisquoc" via 1968 Legislative Chapter 282.  The highway was deleted by way of 1984 Legislative Chapter 1258.  Following relinquishment, the entirety of Foxen Canyon Road reverted to be being maintained by Santa Barbara County.  

Below a retired California State Route 176 shield can be seen from author Tom Fearer's signage collection.




Part 2; a drive on Foxen Canyon Road

Eastbound Foxen Canyon Road begins at the intersection of Betteravia Road and Philbric Road.  


Foxen Canyon Road makes a right hand turn at Santa Maria Mesa Road and passes through the community of Garey.  













Foxen Canyon Road continues east of Garey and enters the community of Sisquoc.  The community limit of Sisquoc is where the terminus of California State Route 176 was once located.  The Pacific Coast Railroad line to Sisquoc was discontinued in 1942.  





Eastbound Foxen Canyon Road makes a left hand turn at Palmer Road in Sisquoc.  Palmer Road can be used to access the Cat Canyon Oil Field. 



Foxen Canyon Road passes the site of Sisquoc Church (San Ramon Chapel) a couple miles east of Palmer Road.  The structure was built in 1879 by the Foxen family.  The roadway passes through numerous wineries and the site of the Foxen adobe near Tres Hermanas Vineyard.  































Foxen Canyon Road continues east through numerous wineries and turns left at Zaca Station Road.  

























Foxen Canyon Road begins to climb east from Zaca Station Road to California State Route 154 in Los Olivos.  











Foxen Canyon Road terminates at a dead-end just beyond Ballard Canyon Road.  


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