Sundials of North America

This is a complete listing of sundials in the North American Sundial Society Registry. Click on any dial thumbnail picture or city name to display the full dial listing and images. To see sundials from a particular state or province, you may click on the list at right to see all registered sundials in that state, province or country (at bottom) displayed in city order.

You may also type into the NASS search field at upper right any search word such as "equatorial" to get a list of all articles mentioning equatorial dials and a list of all equatorial sundials in the registry. (Try other dial types: "vertical", "horizontal", etc).

 
 
Golden Colorado USA Reflective Equatorial Dial 855
This dial is one of Bill Gottesman's uniquely designed Renaissance dials of cast and structural bronze with a 27 inch diameter time telling helix whose axis is aligned to the celestial-north pole. Time is told by a focused beam of light from a long cylindrical unsilvered mirror situated on that N-S axis, reflecting sunlight into a slit of light onto the helix, telling time throughout the day. A sliding time scale within the helix is adjusted for longitude, date's equation of time correction and daylight saving time. Once this scale is adjusted for date, the dial shows civil (local clock) time with an accuracy of under one minute. The dial base is cast bronze that allows adjustment for latitude and is placed on a sandstone plinth.
 
 
Alburquerque New Mexico USA Horizontal Dial Dial 854
This was a unique horizontal sundial designed for the Nob Hill Main Street program, where the sundial anchored the southeast corner of the Nob Hill Community Garden. Created several years ago by Mike Heighway and Mira Rose, Mike explained, "The purpose of the Nob Hill Sundial is to act as an interactive gardener’s guide. It works on an annual cycle by casting a shadow from a large center piece (the gnomon) onto a concrete plate with embedded steel [diurnal] bands and porcelain tiles that describe that month’s gardening activities." The dial itself was about 10 feet in diameter with an metal, rust-colored gnomon. The sundial is designed around the summer and winter solstice, since these are ultimately the times of year when the sun is either at its highest or lowest point in the noon sky. Each horizontal band connects to two tiles; one side for months approaching the summer solstice, and the other for months approaching the winter solstice. The tiles instruct people what monthly activities to do in the garden.
 
 
Nashville Tennessee USA Equatorial Dial Dial 853
The equatorial dial made of aluminum operates on a unique principle. The equatorial time ring is allowed to rotate. Fixed to it on the upper ring section is a small hole that shines to the ring below. On the lower ring section is a plate with an engraved analemma, extending +/- 23.44 deg from the equator. The whole assembly is rotated until the sunlight spot falls on the analemma (with monthly marks to avoid ambiguity). One tells time using 5-minute time marks on the upper section of the equatorial ring read by one of two indicators either as central standard or daylight savings time.
 
 
Wilmington North Carolina USA Equatorial Dial Dial 852
This is a bronze hemispherical equatorial sundial approximately 30 inches in diameter. The wide equatorial band is delineated every quarter hour and has cast Arabic numerals as hour markers from 6am to 6pm. The meridian band is inscribed with markers for the solstices and cross-quarter days.
 
 
New Orleans Louisiana USA Horizontal Dial Dial 851
The concrete dial is 32 inches in diameter with simple hour lines without any further ornamentation. The foot high gnomon is a stainless steel wedge, tapering slightly from base to top. An interesting effect of looking at the sundial and gnomon: by moving your head, the hour lines reflected in the gnomon can line up with lines on the other side of the gnomon. The dial sits on a 3 foot high concrete pedestal.
 
 
Washington District of Columbia USA Horizontal Dial Dial 850
This horizontal dial was commissioned by the District of Columbia Department of General Services for the newly renovated River Terrace Educational Campus. The mosaic dial is installed within a 20 ft diameter concrete plaza. The dial face is a beautifully colored spectrum of Italian Piccolo porcelain 1-inch mosaic tiles encompassing a circle 8 ft in diameter. Embedded in the mosaic chapter ring are 7-inch aluminum Arabic numbers marking the hours from 6am to 6pm and just within are letters marking the cardinal points. The aluminum gnomon is 4 ft. long and 2.83 ft tall.
 
 
Lucedale Mississippi USA Armillary Sphere Dial 849
The armillary is constructed of stainless steel with rings approximately 34 inches in diameter. The equatorial ring is a 3-inch band with 1-inch cast bronze Arabic hour numbers showing standard time and 1/2 inch cast bronze numbers for Daylight Saving Time. The other rings are unconventional. Rather than a horizontal ring, the ring is canted to match the latitude. The solstial ring that traditionally runs completely over the N-S vertical meridian is only 3/4 complete, creating an open area from the upper portion of the equatorial band to the southern pole that allows better viewing of the equatorial time ring when standing behind the armillary. The dial can be adjusted for the equation of time by rotating the equatorial ring to align on a plate with month marks set to the equation of time plus longitude offset, allowing the sundial to tell civil time.
 
 
St. Louis Missouri USA Horizontal Dial Dial 848
The original sundial, made in 1841, was 14 inches in diameter and sat on a limestone pedestal 30 inches high. In early drawings from the late 1890's and later photos, the dial had a massive triangular gnomon. For years it served as the post chronometer.
 
 
St. Louis Missouri USA Horizontal Dial Dial 847
The circular bronze dial has a massive triangular gnomon and is kept under a protective plastic dome. In R. McGuire's book, St. Louis Arsenal - Armory Of The West is a picture of the sundial for which the caption reads "On December 12, 1859, master armorer N. Engels, machinist A. Schaedel, and engraver W. Hawksley dedicated a sundial, which they had created entirely from spare ordnance materials. It was a scientifically precise instrument, measuring 17 inches in diameter, and was used for many years as the definitive chronometer of the arsenal. Engraved upon it was a poem entitled 'The Bird of Liberty,' reflecting the patriotic fervor of the day."
 
 
New Orleans Louisiana USA Horizontal Dial Dial 846
Amidst the gardens in City Park is the Bacher Sundial, an 18-foot diameter pebbled concrete horizontal sundial set flush with the ground. The gnomon is well made, with curves nicely cut, edges straight, and the weld fillet is smooth and blends the upright with the base nicely. It is set on a low circular dais set considerably south of the center of the circular dial face. The gnomon is a simple iron blade 144 inches in length along the style edge. At the base, slots for anchoring the gnomon allow adjustment of 8-10 degrees to align to true north. Currently the gnomon sits near the center of the range, but can be pushed by hand to either end of the range. With loose nuts holding the gnomon, it appears canted at the base. Tightening the nuts could restore gnomon to its necessary 30 degree angle, but deterioration of the bolt anchors may prevent full tightening.
 
 
Nashotah Wisconsin USA Horizontal Dial Dial 845
In a quite, shaded corner of the Nashotah House Theological Seminary is a copper alloy horizontal dial. The dial plate is a 10 inch square, 3/32 inches thick. The dial is engraved with several concentric circles with with large Roman hour marks on an outer ring from 5am to 7pm. Time is delineated in 5 minute increments on the outer circle, but includes an inner circle delineated in 15 minute increments. In the center of the dial is an 8-point compass rose with engraved directions. The quarter inch thick brass gnomon is a simple raised bar acting as style with an "S" shaped support.
 
 
Baltimore Maryland USA Analemmatic Dial Dial 844
Volunteers painted a 16 x 5 foot analemmatic dial for the elementary and middle school students. The dial has 8-inch circles for hour numbers from 5am to 7pm using standard time. The dial walkway is painted with yellow month lines and abbreviations for each month to the side. The words "summer" and "winter" are at the solstice lines. Bailey points are painted as small yellow circles to indicate the direction of sunrise and sunset from the observer's position on the walkway.
 
 
Baltimore Maryland USA Analemmatic Dial Dial 843
Volunteers painted a 16 x 5 foot analemmatic dial for the elementary and middle school students. The dial has 8-inch circles for hour numbers from 5am to 7pm using standard time. The dial walkway is painted with yellow month lines and abbreviations for each month to the side. The words "summer" and "winter" are at the solstice lines. Bailey points are painted as small yellow circles to indicate the direction of sunrise and sunset from the observer's position on the walkway.
 
 
Ocean Shores Washington USA Horizontal Dial Dial 842
This large horizontal dial has a gnomon in the shape of an anchor and concrete minimalist dial surface in the shape of a triangle, keeping the theme of the location "Triangle Park". Three time Arabic hour numbers of 9, 12 and 3 are embedded into the concrete slab and two other time marks of 6am and 6pm are on separate pads located outside the main dial area.
 
 
Milwaukee Wisconsin USA Vertical Dial Dial 841
This large vertical south facing sundial is fabricated from aluminum. Eight slender hour lines delineate the time. At the top of the hour lines along the winter solstice are acrylic numbers on the circular hour plates showing time from 10am to 5pm. At the bottom of the hour lines along the summer solstice are additional acrylic numbers showing daylight saving time from 11am to 6pm. A short horizontal bar shows the equinox.
 
 
Sheridan Wyoming USA Horizontal Dial Dial 840
This monumental horizontal dial is 15 ft. in diameter sitting on a foundation of poured concrete and rebar. The dial face is etched on 4 large granite slabs from Canada. The gnomon is a 6-inch diameter steel pipe 97inches tall with a welded nodus ball and a triangular sheet beneath the gnomon that has a sun and the school logo (a mountain range) cut into it casting projected images onto the sundial face.
 
 
Twin Falls Idaho USA Equatorial Dial Dial 839
This beautiful stainless steel equatorial is approximately 1m in diameter with brass inlay for the equatorial time, divided down to the minute. This is also an analemmic sundial where the brass gnomon is cut out in the shape of an analemma allowing the user to directly correct for the equation of time. The analemma is marked with 365 individual date marks.
 
 
South Lee Massachusetts USA Vertical Dial Dial 838
On the transom of a brown wood shingled and stone building that looks like it once was a church is a vertical south declining wooden sundial about 2 x 2 feet square. The sundial is painted red with a nicely cut wood gnomon. Hour lines and Roman numerals from VI to VI are chiseled into the wood, along with an inscription. The dial is framed in wood as well but the contrasting grey paint is flaking off.
 
 
Bloomfield Hills Michigan USA Horizontal Dial Dial 837
In Cranbrook Gardens, where works of art topiary and American crafts are displayed, one can find a brass horizontal dial transformed into a beautiful sculpture of a ginkgo leaf with the stem serving as the style. Hour lines are the radiating leaf veins. A small circle with Arabic numbers delineates each hour from 6am to 6pm..The ginkgo leaf sundial is about 40 cm and the height of the tail about 14 cm. The sundial hour circle is about 20 cm in diameter.
 
 
St. Louis Missouri USA Horizontal Dial Dial 836
A horizontal sundial made on an octagonal brass plate, measuring 12 inches from side to side. The engraved hour lines are divided with marks for half, quarter and eighth parts of the hour. The hour numbers themselves are outward facing Roman numerals. The brass gnomon is bent slightly to the west by vandals. The pedestal is 37.5 inches tall with a 17 inch circular top cap of pink marble. Unfortunately the dial is located near a tree, so it is in shade for part of day.
 
 
State College Pennsylvania USA Analemmatic Dial Dial 835
A simple analemmatic dial about 12 feet across. Square unmarked flagstone or pavers mark the hours. The walkway has a concrete base covered by the same flagstone or pavers. The walkway months are embossed in the stone.
 
 
Lucedale Mississippi USA Analemmatic Dial Dial 834
This analemmatic dial (sometimes called a human sundial) is designed for children. Approximately 16 ft wide, it is constructed of red brick with steel hour marks. The numbers for standard time are large silver and the numbers for daylight saving time are smaller and black. A black steel walkway is located in the center of the dial with embossed months of the year. Children stand on the month. Their shadow marks the time. Large numbers are standard time. Small numbers are daylight saving time.
 
 
Ottawa Ontario Canada Horizontal Dial Dial 833
A garden variety round horizontal sundial about 12 inches in diameter. It looks like a bronze casting with iron staining from steel bolts. Hours marks only from VI to VI (6 am to 6 pm). The dial is located in a very shaded spot close to a building and surrounded by trees. Ornamental. Dial plate has inscription "Tempus Omnia Revelat" (Time Reveals All).
 
 
Hanover New Hampshire USA Vertical Dial Dial 832
This octagonal vertical sundial is mounted on the due south facing wall of Shattuck Observatory. The dial is painted on wood. The hours are VI to VI (6 am to 6 pm) with lines for half and quarter hours. The thick triangular gnomon is rigidly mounted on the dial face. The dial is in excellent mechanical condition but the paint is flaking badly due to sun and weather exposure.
 
 
Portland Maine USA Equatorial Dial Dial 831
Prominent in the cemetery is a large equatorial sundial about 4 ft in diameter. The dial was custom built for the location latitude and longitude. It is made of cast, anodized aluminum. The equatorial ring is 8-inch side arc with Roman numeral hours from VI to VI (6am to 6pm) with marks at 5 minute intervals. The scale is shifted to correct for longitude. The gnomon is an elegant arrow. It sits on a 4 ft plinth made of river stone, capped with a circular 6 inch block of polished granite.
 
 
Brunswick Maine USA Horizontal Dial Dial 830
In the shade of many trees is a 12 inch circular horizontal sundial sitting on a square granite plinth. The dial plate shows solar time with Roman numerals V to VII (5am to 7pm). Half and quarter hours are shown with dots.
 
 
Falmouth Maine USA Armillary Sphere Dial 829
This bronze armillary sundial is about 18 inches in diameter. The prime meridian ring is embossed with an intricate design. A different designed with forward and backward "S" adorns the exterior of the equatorial ring while the interior has embossed Roman numerals for the the hours. The 6-hour ring is plain and there is no horizontal ring. The arrow gnomon rod is at the correct slope but the dial is free to turn on its base so that it is not oriented north.
 
 
Stanbridge East Quebec Canada Horizontal Dial Dial 828
The sundial is a 10-inch circular bronze horizontal dial engraved with hours in Roman numerals from IIII to VIII, (4 am to 8 pm) and marks for the half and quarter hours. A compass rose shows 32 compass points. Unfortunately the gnomon is missing. It was originally fastened by two weak screws. Attempts to solder the gnomon in place failed.
 
 
Ottawa Ontario Canada Horizontal Dial Dial 827
This sundial is a memorial for W T Macoun. The dial is a simple bronze horizontal sundial, about 12 inches in diameter. It shows solar time with hour lines from 4 am to 8 pm. Hour marks are Roman numerals. The design accounts for the thick gnomon. The stone octagonal base is about 40 inches high
 
 
Kokomo Indiana USA Equatorial Dial Dial 826
This is a hammered wrought iron equatorial sundial approximately 30 inches in diameter with a 6 inch equatorial band. The gnomon is a thin rod bracketed by an iron slit that is manually rotated to allow a bright beam of light to surround the shadow time-telling mark. The dial is designed to show local solar time, and requires the Equation of Time to correct for the tilted earth’s rotation axis and its eccentric orbit around the sun.
 
 
Tucson Arizona USA Analemmatic Dial Dial 825
This nearly 14-foot wide analemmatic human sundial replaces the previous sundial at the same location. The previous dial by an unknown designer had several design errors and was in poor condition. The Flandrau Planetarium replace it, choosing a sundial with a blue background and white hour numerals. Dial Markings include quarter hour marks, Solar Noon Mark, Date Line with one week marks, Alignment Marker for Sunrise and Sunset (Bailey Points) with Solstice and Equinox lines, and the four Cardinal Points of the compass. The dial has a built-in longitude correction and shows Mountain Standard Time when readings are adjusted for The Equation of Time
 
 
Santa Cruz California USA Globe or Hemispheric Dial 824
This is a globe dial with a twist: a glass sphere is used to represent the earth with continent lines scribed on the globe along with hour lines, analemma figure for each hour, tropic of cancer, tropic of capricorn, equator, and a line representing the local horizon. The globe is etched with the dial site at the globe's zenith. The dial has a central gnomon. When the shadow of a pointer falls on the gnomon the time is read using the correct side of the hour line analemma.
 
 
Rockville Maryland USA Horizontal Dial Dial 823
A simple stainless steel gnomon 5-inches in diameter sits on a 6-foot concrete dais. Surrounding the dais are brick pavers with two circular bands of granite pavers. The interior band is for daylight saving time hours of engraved numbers filled with a gold color and a similar outer band for standard time hours. The granite pavers also mark the cardinal points engraved in gold, and extended as east-west and north-south lines from the dais. What makes this dial both unique and beautiful is the low brick and concrete surrounding walls with inscriptions from famous authors on both the interior and exterior faces.
 
 
St. Petersburg Florida USA Analemmatic Dial Dial 822
Sculptor Eric Higgs was originally approached by Robin Reed,who chaired the historic preservation committee for the Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood Association. She was interested in sprucing up a decrepit area where sundials once stood at Vista Point, Flora Park. From the 1930's to the 1970's two different sundials were located on this site. The plan to refurbish the last sundial slowly evolved into a plan for a new sculpture that "escalated into a project for the [waterfront] centennial."
 
 
Anthem Arizona USA Sun Alignment Dial 821
The Anthem Veterans Memorial in Anthem, AZ was dedicated on November 11, 2011 at 11am (11-11-11) to honor the service and sacrifice of the United States armed forces and to provide a place of honor and reflection for veterans, their family and friends. Veterans gather here annually on November 11th to watch a solar alignment at 11:11am when the sun precisely illuminates a 3-foot medallion of The Great Seal of the United States.
 
 
Lucedale Mississippi USA Sun Alignment Dial 820
This is a Veteran's Memorial consisting of a set of five large stainless steel panels with holes that guide sunlight to strike a memorial plaque. The alignment is designed to commemorate the signing of the armistice ending World War One, illuminating the plaque on Nov 11th at 11:00AM
 
 
Morristown New Jersey USA Analemmatic Dial Dial 819
This analemmatic dial is approximately 20 feet wide by 12 feet long, constructed of reinforced, high strength cast-in-place concrete. Showing both Standard and Daylight Savings Time, the dial uses a dual ring of twenty-eight circular hour markers. Each hour marker is a 12 inch diameter precast paver flush with the surrounding landscaping with an aluminum Arabic hour numeral on top.
 
 
Portland Maine USA Horizontal Dial Dial 818
A large 1m (3-foot) bronze sundial is set on a low granite dais at the center of a white granite ellipse. Surrounding the sundial are three white granite benches, the center declaring this as a memorial to Mayor James Baxter. The hour ring gives the hours from V in the morning to VII in the evening The ring is further divided into 15 minute increments. The dial has a large 24-point star and on the south end of the dial face the words "Baxter Boulevard". The artful gnomon is about 1-inch thick. Unfortunately the monument setting is heavily wooded and little sunlight reaches this fine dial.
 
 
New Milford Connecticut USA Equatorial Dial Dial 817
This 9-foot stainless steel equatorial is the centerpiece of "Galileo's Garden". The sundial was built and dedicated in memory of Kathleen Fischer, a sixth-grade science teacher who inspired many students to pursue science. The sundial is an open armillary, with an adjustable hour band so that both local solar time and civil time can be read. At the tip of the gnomon is a bronze and brass true-size rendering of Galileo’s first telescope, honoring the 400 years since Galileo explored the heavens. The North American Sundial Society was privileged to donate to this effort.
 
 
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.
 
 
San Diego California USA Equatorial Dial Dial 815
This broad band equatorial dial was dedicated in 1978 to George A. Koester, former Executive Dean of San Diego State University. The approximately 3-foot dial is on a brick pedestal situated on on a small dais. Concentric brick circles complete the large dial plaza.
 
 
Leisure City Florida USA Obelisk or Vertical Gnomon Dial 814
Amid the many coral blocks (oolitic limestone rock) carved by eccentric Edward Leedskalnin (1887-1951) is a huge monolithic sundial. The gnomon is a horizontal L-shaped piece of iron fastened to the north corner of a limestone block about 8 feet high, weighing about 15 short-tons. Below the gnomon, carved into a second block of limestone is a portion of a hemisphere, smoothly filled in with concrete. Drawn on the hemisphere are analemma shaped hour and half-hour lines from 9am to 4pm. You can read the time with an accuracy of about two-minutes.
 
 
Victoria British Columbia Canada Horizontal Dial Dial 813
This brass horizontal sundial was designed and engraved for use in the town of Hope BC by British Royal Engineers in 1860. The circular dial is 8 inches diameter with a triangular gnomon. Time lines are engraved at 15 minute intervals from 4 am to 8 pm. The dial is on display in the museum beside other survey instruments and the red uniform of a Royal Engineers Sergeant.
 
 
Coeur d'Alene Idaho USA Horizontal Dial Dial 812
In 2013 the city of Coeur d'Alene began a $20M renovation of downtown McEuen Park, a 22-acre expanse, to include a large sundial. But shortly after the renovation started, the city commissioners were told the $51,000 that was to be spent on the sundial was instead to be used to install heavier electrical infrastructure for support of major park events. Fortunately by the end of 2013, the City Staff announced that the sundial was added back to the park's plan, made possible by a $50,000 donation from Parkwood Business Properties.
 
 
Elmira New York USA Vertical Dial Dial 811
The white concrete dial face with surrounding dark red Arabic hour numbers is approximately 2 foot tall by 4 foot wide. The hour angles are clean grooves in the concrete. All are easily visible from ground level. Most striking is the steel gnomon painted bright yellow with an ornate central cut-out of a triangle symbolizing the trinity.
 
 
Elmira New York USA Sun Alignment Dial 810
This solar alignment sculpture called the "Sun Triangle" is made of polished 1/8 inch stainless steel. Its leaning, 10 foot tall pedestal gives the mounted triangle a futuristic look of monumental size, where the tip of the triangle towers 34 feet above ground level. The selected triangle angles are described by the dial plaque, making solar alignments at noon on the equinoxes and summer/winter solstices. There are no line markings or hour indicators on the ground. However, the pedestal is bolted to a buried concrete block weighing approximately 16 tons.
 
 
Oliver British Columbia Canada Horizontal Dial Dial 809
A lovely horizontal dial with an 8-foot high stainless steel gnomon. The hour lines are done as colorful alternating red and cream segments set in a 8-foot radius semi-circle. The gnomon is triangular in cross section with a single thin edge casting the shadow. The dial hour numbers are set for daylight, since all of the winery's 100,000 annual visitors are seasonal, coming when Pacific Daylight Time is in place.
 
 
Dover Massachusetts USA Horizontal Dial Dial 808
The horizontal dial is in the spiral shape of a Nautilus. The dial was originally built in the 1920's and located at Amelia Peabody's Sun House at 145 Powisset Stree in Dover, MA.
 
 
Winterthur Delaware USA Horizontal Dial Dial 807
A bronze horizontal sundial about 18 inches in diameter. The Arabic hour numbers range from 4am to 8pm, with time delineated into half, quarter, and eighth hours. A side photo of the gnomon shows it is set for about 53° and the top-down photo of the dial (corrected for perspective) confirms this. A DuPont purchase in England?
 
 
Winterthur Delaware USA Armillary Sphere Dial 806
The 59" armillary is located in the Sundial Garden, designed by Landscape Designer Marian Coffin for Henry Francis DuPont for the family's former tennis court in 1955. It features an antique armillary sundial weighing 70 pounds. It was collected by the DuPont family between 1850-1920.