Sips of History: Henrietta Riddel-Fish and Vallejo Cellars

About this Event

Step into one of the festival’s most atmospheric stops and spend a little time with a story that reaches back into Benicia’s past. Upstairs in Gallery 9, the Museum of History Benicia invites visitors to slow down and discover the remarkable history behind an 1889 landscape painting by Henrietta Riddell Fish. Likely depicting Mt. Shasta, the painting features a mountain, trees, a stream, and railroad tracks in the foreground. It still rests in its original frame, held together with square nails and heavy corner brackets dated 1883/1885. Henrietta Riddell Fish lived in Benicia at 265 West “K” Street in the late 1800s. Her husband, Franklin Fish, was an amateur photographer whose glass plates also appear to capture Mt. Shasta, suggesting a meaningful family connection to the iconic peak. Visitors are encouraged to linger, take in the gallery, and enjoy the museum’s beautiful setting. Vallejo Cellars will be on hand selling wine, making this a lovely place to pause during the festival, sip something local, look out over the surrounding landscape, and experience a quieter, more reflective side of Benicia’s creative history.