1. This used to be the richest silver mine in the world
Silver Islet refers to both a small rocky island and a small community located at the tip of the Sibley Peninsula in northwestern Ontario, Canada. A rich vein of pure silver was discovered on this small island in 1868 by the Montreal Mining Company. The islet was expanded to over 10 times its original size and a small mining town was built up on the shore nearby. Over the 16 years that the mine was in operation, $3.25 million worth of silver was extracted.
There’s not much left of the mine today. But you can see what’s left of the “ghost town” community that remains on the shores here on Flickr.
Found via Tumblr.
2. Native American people intentionally bent trees to mark trails and many remain today as hidden monuments
“…If a young tree were bent in some unnatural position without being broken, and were fastened securely, it would continue to grow, forever after maintaining the bent position. With this as a means, it was possible to deform the trees deliberately so that they could easily be distinguished from the other trees in the forest.”
Read more about Appalachian Trail Trees here.
3. Did some detective work on this Parisian balcony
I’ve often seen this photo of a rather dreamy balcony around the internet and decided to figure out where it was. So with a bit of detective work (thanks to google reverse image searching), I managed to find it and as it happens, the apartment is actually available to rent…
Located on the Ile Saint-Louis, in a 17th Century townhouse, the apartment is available from 245 – 350 € per night on Guest Apartment Services.
4. The Courtyard of Hammond Castle
Hammond Castle, which was constructed between 1926 and 1929, was the home and laboratory of John Hays Hammond, Jr, an inventor who was a pioneer in the study of remote control. The building is composed of modern and 15th-, 16th-, and 18th-century architectural elements and sits on a rocky cliff overlooking Gloucester Harbor in Massachusetts.
Found via Pinterest.
5. Samples of printed cotton textiles taken from a sample book ca.1820–50.
United Kingdom, ca.1820–50. -Via Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, found on
Found on Treasure Trove of Vintage Pleasures.
6. The Mascot Of Ascot: Gertrude Shilling
Considered now to be one of the greatest milliners and hat-makers in the world, the hats David [Shilling] designed for Gertrude Shilling to be worn at Royal Ascot in the 60s, 70s, 80s+ were anywhere from over the top, to avant garde, to just plain insane!
Found on Firefly + Finch.
7. The female artisans preserving Sardinia’s textile heritage through the traditional art of weaving
8. This Biker Gang
Found on My Big Box of Slides.
9. This Highly Provocative Perrier Ad from the 1970s
10. The Surreal Covers 60s & 70s French Erotic publication Plexus
Plexus, a sexy offshoot of Planète… It’s an intriguing mix of surreal-fantastic-psychedelic art, interviews with writers (Jacques Sternberg was the literary editor), Playboy-style comics and the occasional Popeye comic, science fiction stories, philosophy, and—though there are few traditional photo spreads—lots and lots of boobs. Each early issue features a full-color “pin up”: an erotic work by an artist like Leonor Fini.
Found on 50 Watts
11. She Brought Surrealism to America—and Painted Her Own Myth. How Was She Forgotten by History?
Lucia Wilcox rubbed shoulders with Surrealists in Paris, reinvented herself in New York, and created fantastical scenes of jubilant women. A new show brings her visionary work back into view…
She was born in 1899 and raised in Beirut, and at the age of 22 she moved to Paris, where she partied with Surrealists. In 1938, with the winds of war in the air, she fled to the U.S, arriving in New York. She bought a house in the Hamptons, where she situated herself, becoming a doyenne among a generation of expatriate Surrealist artists fleeing Europe. She married three times. Throughout her life, she painted mythical women in moments of unbridled happiness. These paintings were shown by the great art dealers of the generation: Sidney Janis and Leo Castelli…
Read the full article on ArtNet.
12. Salvador Dali’s Transgender Muse and 70s Disco Diva
In general, not much is known for sure about the early life of Amanda Lear and she would very much like to keep it that way. She claims to have been educated in Switzerland and she eventually made her way to Paris in 1959, taking the stage name “Peki d’Oslo,” performing as a stripper at the notorious drag bar, Le Carrousel. The story goes that the gangly, yet exotic Eurasian beauty Peki had a nose job and sex change in Casablanca paid for by none other than the Surrealist master Salvador Dali, who frequented Le Carrousel, in 1963.
Amanda, as she is now known, then makes her way to London to become a part of the swinging Chelsea set where she is rumored to have had a relationship with Rolling Stone Brian Jones. She models for Yves St. Laurent and Paco Rabanne and is a constant muse for the Divine Dali, but her career is held back by rumors that she was born a man or was a hermaphrodite.
Read the full story on Dangerous Minds.
13. Once a Beatle
When Ringo was ill with tonsillitis, he substituted on drums for 8 concerts & lived a superstar’s life for 10 days. But Ringo has returned. Now Jimmie Nicol sits alone in the Melbourne airport, waiting for the plane that will take him back to obscurity.
Read up on his Wikipedia page, a pretty interesting read.
