Queen Mary's Peak
— — the volcano on the most remote inhabited island in the world.
Not only on a wall.
“Queen Mary's Peak is the summit of Tristan da Cunha, a volcanic island roughly 2,400 km from the nearest land. The peak rises to just over 2,000 metres, snow-capped for much of the year, and the small settlement of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas sits on a narrow shelf at its northwest foot. Roughly 240 people live there, almost all descended from a handful of nineteenth-century settlers. There is no airstrip. The mail boat from Cape Town runs a few times a year. The peak is the first thing ships see and the last thing they lose.
Queen Mary's Peak, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Queen Mary's Peak is the central volcano of Tristan da Cunha, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic about 2,400 km west of Cape Town and 3,300 km east of South America. The summit reaches 2,062 metres, with a small crater lake near the top. The island is roughly circular, 12 km across, and the only settlement, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, sits on a coastal shelf on the northwest side, home to about 240 people of largely shared descent.
The peak is in cloud most days. It sits inside the westerly belt of the Roaring Forties, and the prevailing wind shapes the snowline and the vegetation: tussock grass below, bare scoria and snow above. The summit crater holds a small lake that freezes in winter. Visibility windows for a full ascent are rare; islanders treat any clear day as a small event. The peak last erupted in 1961, when the entire population was briefly evacuated to England.
Tristan has no airstrip. Visitors arrive by the SA Agulhas II or a fishing vessel from Cape Town, a passage of five to seven days, and only with prior permission from the Island Council. Landings are weather-dependent and often cancelled. The climb to the peak takes a long single day from the settlement, guided by an islander, and requires the right weather window. Day-trippers from cruise ships rarely get further than the harbour.