The sundial is located in a field behind the north side of the Mordecai Lincoln Homestead, 62 Mordecai Lincoln Road, Scituate, MA.
The property is registered and protected as a historic site. There is a public access driveway to the right side of the house leading to parking spots towards the rear.
The dial will be in the field in front of you.
Description:
Horizontal sundial for latitude 42 degrees, made from a rough hewn, rectangular sandstone slab and resting on top of three courses of granite field-stone. Roman numerals and hour lines are inscribed with a sharp tool on the surface, V-XII-VII. The gnomon was originally an iron rod set at an angle without any secondary support. It has corroded and broken off. Its remains are still in the dial slab being held by what appears to be ancient window putty. The slab has fractured around the gnomon's point of insertion. A double line was used for each hour line (approximately the width of the missing gnomon). The sundial was made by an amateur and not a professional instrument maker.
The slab and its sundial are currently not aligned with the meridian, deviating about 36 degrees west. It is also inclining about 22 degrees, all due to the deterioration of the underlying granite field-stone. The sundial is hard to date given the condition and materials, but is probably 19th century. The homestead dates to the 1690s, being the homestead and mill of Mordecai Lincoln, the great, great, great grandfather of Abraham Lincoln.
Scituate_Sundial _Report_Schechner_2026.pdf 10121.911 KBytes
