Selected Sundials of North America

This is a selected listing of sundials in the North American Sundial Society Registry. Click on any dial thumbnail picture or city name to display the full dial description with additional information and images.

 

Alberta

 
Calgary Alberta Canada Analemmatic Dial Dial 197
Stone analemmatic dial designed by Kasian Kennedy. Dial is laid out in a circle. Monthly markers designate where observer is to stand to act as the gnomon. Both standard and saving time hour marks time from 5am to 8pm.
 
 
Calgary Alberta Canada Equatorial Dial Dial 448
A steel and brass equatorial dial 49 inches in diameter. The dial simulates an armillary sphere with two crossed semi-circles in a modernistic sculpture. There is a slot in the gnomon that projects a sun line and corrects for the equation of time; the gnomon is turned over at the solstice. Fine adjustments are required near the solstice to show correct clock time (MST). Dial built as a Canadian Centennial Project. Now relocated to a mid-level landing on the entrance stairs but not correctly aligned, producing a 48 minute error.
 
 
Calgary Alberta Canada Horizontal Dial Dial 661
A 9 inch diameter horizontal dial of Welsh green slate with brass gnomon. Hour lines show DST with longitude correction. Declination lines are shown for solstices and equinoxes. The gnomon includes a NASS logo. The dial sits atop a stone plinth with 12 inch diameter top. The original Sundial of Hope, sponsored by Child Find of Alberta, was placed in 1993 on an original plinth dating to before WW2. The simple dial installed in 1993 had been vandalized and the gnomon was missing. Roger Bailey designed and built this replacement dial to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the founding of NASS. The new dial was unveiled during the 2003 NASS Conference Sundial Tour.
 
 
Calgary Alberta Canada Analemmatic Dial Dial 666
An analemmatic dial with 14.8 foot major axis of concrete, pebble and rock with cast concrete hour markers. Hour lines are longitude corrected and mark DST. A Zodiac date line of colored concrete is inlaid on the dial face. Seasonal markers for sunrise and sunset are included.
 
 
Calgary Alberta Canada Analemmatic Dial Dial 668
An analemmatic dial with 14.8 foot major axis with hour posts and date line of concrete on a grassy playground. Date line includes footprints of cut aluminum.
 
 
Calgary Alberta Canada Analemmatic Dial Dial 781
A school yard 6 by 4 meter analemmatic dial of pigmented concrete. The Sunclocks registered design has two hour ellipses, the outer one for standard time, the inner one for daylight saving time. The zodiac table is larger for the fall and winter periods so the design is really two sundials in one. Longitude correction is included. The plaque provides instructions in French and English and notes the dial marks the 50th anniversary of Ecole Banff Trail. The plaque instruction to stand on the current month is misleading; the user should straddle the dial centerline to avoid an offset error.
 
 
Calgary Alberta Canada Armillary Sphere Dial 953
This large armillary sphere stands about 2m tall and 1.5m wide. The dial is marked by roman numerals etched completely through the equatorial band. Large holes form the hour moment, with smaller holes for the half and quarter hours. The meridian ring also serves as support for the dial. In addition are the arctic and antarctic rings. The design of a slot mechanism allows the equatorial ring to be rotated by 15° for Daylight Saving Time. However there is no plaque for the Equation of Time correction to civil time.
 
 
Edmonton Alberta Canada Horizontal Dial Dial 195
A horizontal dial of varnished wooden shaped as octagon, perhaps 24 in. across, 2 in. thick, with very thick wedge-shaped gnomon. Roman numerals carved at ends of hour lines. Dial sat atop a segment of tree trunk.
 
 
Edmonton Alberta Canada Horizontal Dial Dial 1067
This horizontal sundial has a steel gnomon and extended rod to cast shadows onto a large, circular dial plaza 18m in diameter. The plaza has inlaid bronze cardinal markers, hour line separations in the concrete, and bronze inlaid Roman numerals from 5AM to 10PM. Wild roses, the official flower of Alberta, are planted in the center of the plaza surrounding the gnomon. The gnomon itself is 5.85m long
 
 
Grande Prairie Alberta Canada Horizontal Dial Dial 816
This monumental stainless steel sundial was built as part of the Grande Prairie Millennium Project. The beautiful gnomon is 12m (40-feet) tall and symbolizes the passage of the year 2000 into the 21st century. Behind the visible stainless steel cover of the sundial's gnomon is a one by two foot steel beam. Engineers adopted computer programming techniques to construct and align the 30 centimetre thick gnomon of the Centre 2000 sundial. Specific factors such as the city’s elevation, its latitude and correction longitude mark time with the region’s Mountain Standard and Daylight Savings Time.
 
 
Lloydminster Alberta Canada Horizontal Dial Dial 392
At 197 feet in diameter, this is one of the largest horizontal dials in North America. It's location is on the 4th meridian at 110:0 west, a line that separates Alberta and Saskatchewan and divides the city of Lloydminister in half. The gnomon is constructed from 8 inch black schedule 40 - carbon steel pipe that is painted yellow. It is 23 feet in length and is supported on a reinforced concrete base 30 inches wide and 8 feet long. It is surrounded by massive boulders partially buried in the ground. The giant hour lines are made of pavers laid on a sand and gravel base. The raised hour numbers are sandblasted on 16 inch square treated timber posts that are mounted in concrete.
 
 
Medicine Hat Alberta Canada Equatorial Dial Dial 495
The Medicine Hat equatorial sundial was commissioned by the Rotary Club of Medicine Hat to commemorate its 50th anniversary (1918-1968). This is an Erickson equatorial polar dial. The dial is 6 feet 9 inches in diameter, made of pink granite, and weighs 3450 pounds. The dial is supported by an inclined stainless steel gnomon rod 3 inches in diameter, with overall length just over 6 feet. As with many of these dials, there are two equation of time plaques.