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.

Wisconsin

	Waukesha	Wisconsin	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 512
	A large horizontal dial in a circular plaza made of tan concrete and red brick. The concrete gnomon stands about 16 feet tall. No hour lines are drawn on the plaza, but the hours are set in a circular ring at the edge of the plaza.
	Waynesville	North Carolina	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 1116
	This is a large horizontal sundial 5-feet (1.5m) in diameter with a twist. The dial is made of aluminum and set on a circular concrete dais several inches above ground level. Hour lines of thin aluminum rods extend from 9am to 3pm using Roman numerals. The gnomon is a braced aluminum rod that creates a sleek, modern looking sundial. But the twist is the dial face can be slightly rotated to accommodate the equation of time (EoT). Above the solar noon pointer is a small scale for the rotation offset.
	Webster Groves	Missouri	USA	Armillary Sphere	Dial 984
	The armillary sphere has three rings: (1) an equatorial time ring made of brass formed into an incomplete circular arc with a 36 inch inner diameter, a thickness of 1/2 inch, and width of 3 inches. Time markings in 15 minute intervals are inscribed on its inner surface with Arabic hour numbers; (2)a meridian ring made of steel formed into a circular arc 37 inches diameter, a thickness of 1/2 inch, and a width of 3 inches; and (3) a horizon ring made of steel into a circular arc 38 inches in diameter, with a thickness of 1/4 inch, and a width of 2 inches. The sundial is supported on a steel pedestal having an open square frustum construction. The gnomon is a steel rod having a pointed arrow tip aimed towards the North Celestial Pole.
	Webster Groves	Missouri	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 898
	This horizontal sundial is mounted on a hexagonal graceful concrete pedestal 43 inches high. The top of the pedestal is slightly sloping hexagonal 17 inches on a side. The circular bronze dial at the center is 11 inches in diameter. The hour lines meet a chapter ring with time marked in 15 minute intervals. Roman numerals mark the hours from 6am to 6pm. The 5 1/2 inch gnomon is of badly rusted steel, with iron stains covering the central part of the dial face. The sundial was vandalized at some time in the past and the original gnomon stolen.
	Wellesley	Massachusetts	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 431
	A small 14x14 inch rose granite square dial with an unassuming 5 inch high brass gnomon sits upon a round white 3 foot high granite column. At the base is a larger granite block. Built about 1899.
	Wendell	Massachusetts	USA	Vertical Dial	Dial 688
	A 15x5 foot hammer formed copper vertical dial declining 8? east of south with hour and half hour lines and Roman hour numerals. Gnomon is supported by dual braces. An EOT correction graph is provided and includes the inscription, "For every purpose there is a season" and acknowledgment to Friends of the Library and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
	West Des Moines	Iowa	USA	Armillary Sphere	Dial 485
	This is a 24-inch armillary sphere on top of a portion of a brass globe showing continents and latitude lines o The dial points generally south, aligned for beauty, not function. The base is aligned to a general northern direction. The time equatorial band, meridian circle and improper horizontal band are painted black. Elegant polished brass Arabic hour numbers half-hour brass time beads indicate the time on the equatorial band. Sits on a concrete column several feet high.
	Westbury	New York	USA	Polyhedral Dial	Dial 5
	An old polyhedral dial set atop a tall stone column on the grounds of Old Westbury Gardens.
	Westerville	Ohio	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 1102
	This horizontal dial is of weathered concrete, about 38cm (15 inches) in diameter. Roman numerals mark the hours from 5am to 7pm. A large bronze gnomon with foot in the center of the round dial casts the shadow. The north edge of the gnomon is shaped into a face. The garden includes a traditional knot garden, a water feature, and a unique sundial made of herbs.
	Westfield	Wisconsin	USA	Armillary Sphere	Dial 651
	A 42 inch diameter stainless steel armillary dial with central brass sphere and topped by a 100 mm cobalt blue crystal ball. The armillary includes equatorial, meridian, tropic (2), horizon and colure rings. Above the armillary is a weathervane featuring a landing bald eagle with Swarovski crystal eye. Hour markings are notched on the equatorial ring. The armillary rests on a 43 inch high tapered stainless steel pyramidal base. The overall height of the dial and weathervane is 10 feet. The dial sits on a 43 inch high, 8x8 inch tapered pyramidal stainless steel pedestal. Dial is on private property but is visible from Fourth Avenue. Owner asks that viewers wanting closer access contact him by phone.
	Westminister	Vermont	USA	Shadow Plane Dial	Dial 378
	A large shadow plane approximately 10 ft across with a nylon cord for a gnomon. Hour points are painted on the dial. To read local apparent time on this sundial, the user must hold the gnomon cord taut and move until its shadow falls across the center of the dial. The entire dial lies south of the cord's point of attachment.
	Westminster	Vermont	USA	Compound Dial	Dial 365
	This whimsical dial looking like a cut-out face is actually an East and West Vertical dial and a Polar dial. It stands about 4 feet high, and is built out of 1 inch steel plate fabricated in Windsor VT and installed on the Westminster West School grounds on a buried concrete pier. Near noon, a beam of sunlight shining through an "ear" indicates the date.
	Westville	Indiana	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 1008
	This marine brass sundial at first glance is just a beautiful horizontal sundial with Roman hour marks delineated at 1 minute intervals from 5am to 7pm . But look carefully and at the base of the gnomon on the north side is a vertical stile whose shadow graces a stereographic projection of a grid of 5-minute solar time lines vs solar declination at degree intervals spanning +/- 23.5 deg where the summer and winter solstice paths are highlighted by a bead of small solar dots.
	Wethersfield	Connecticut	USA	Vertical Dial	Dial 1120
	A rectangular vertical sundial, 31 x 45 inches (0.8x1.1m), made of Vermont slate. Engraved with Roman hours from 6am-6pm and hour lines with delineation in quarter hours. The lines and letter engravings are painted black. The gnomon is a brass rod, suspended slightly off the noon line with an elegant "S" brass support. The date engraved on the dial of "1761" is not the date of the dial, but rather the founding of the church itself. The building is on the National Register. George Washington attended services here in 1781 when he was in Wethersfield meeting with Rochambeau on war strategy. In the late 1990's the Church was restored, and in that process a later addition was demolished on the building's south side, exposing an open niche above the auxiliary doorway. A perfect place for a sundial, orientated slightly off due south.
	Wheaton	Maryland	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 503
	A 20 foot diameter horizontal dial in the middle of a brick patio. The gnomon, about 12 inches wide and 8 feet tall, is made of thin wood painted a verdant green and edged with molding. The dial face is a bed of flowers with hour lines of small plants, all immaculately kept by gardener and dial builder Roger Haynes. Around the circumference of the dial are Arabic number placards for each hour from 6am to 6pm. The flowers are changed seasonally for a gardener?s delight, and during the winter when the plants are dormant, the gnomon is removed and the area is used for a winter light show.
	Wheaton	Illinois	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 589
	Horizontal dial with 20 foot stainless steel gnomon. On the ground (dial face) are hour lines, analemma, date, and time before sunset. Built to commemorate DuPage County residents killed in military conflicts.
	White Lake	Michigan	USA	Analemmatic Dial	Dial 758
	A 20 x 10 foot concrete analemmatic dial with Arabic numeral hour markers for 3 AM to 9 PM. A single central date line is painted on the dial face. Segmented raised seating surrounds the dial; slump stone block pillars mark the cardinal directions. A raised plaque provides dial information and directions for use.
	White Plains	New York	USA	Vertical Dial	Dial 1068
	This vertical dial is a "super ellipse" 36 x 12 inches (92 x61 cm). It is made of dark slate 1.2 inches (3 cm) thick with a stainless steel backing. Hour lines are in grey, radiating from a gilt flaming sunburst. With the dial declining 7 deg to east, Roman hour marks in gilt range 6AM to 5PM (noon is absent for a crest), with dots for half hours. The gnomon is 3mm brass with a nodus disk parallel to the plane of the dial. No solstice nor equinox lines, but a dateline of 5 August, 1978 (wedding anniversary).
	White Rock	British Columbia	Canada	Horizontal Dial	Dial 759
	A 9 x 12 inch stainless steel horizontal dial with 4 AM to 8 PM hour lines and Roman hour numerals for 6 AM and 6 PM. Dial is set on a 24 inch square capital atop a 30 inch high pedestal of concrete and local stones. This pedestal sits on a 50 inch square concrete base that was saved when the railway was moved in 1984
	Wichita	Kansas	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 281
	A bronze dial about 2 feet in diameter that has a simple chapter ring with Roman numerals. The gnomon is an artistic extension of a bird. The sundial sits atop a 30-inch pedestal of open ironwork reminiscent of a clock tower. Cogs put together inside the open structure at the bottom reinforce this impression. All sits on a square concrete dais.
	Wildwood	New Jersey	USA	Analemmatic Dial	Dial 914
	On the boardwalk, inset into the wood planks is a smooth concrete walkway about 12 inches wide. Months and instructions are given in neat lettering made in the concrete. The hours are done on a half-ellipse using the same smooth concrete, Arabic numbers, and 15-minute time marks (far narrower than a person's shadow). The dial is set for daylight saving time (with no longitude correction).
	Williamsburg	Virginia	USA	Armillary Sphere	Dial 877
	This armillary is constructed of welded carbon steel narrow bands approximately 4-feet in diameter sitting on an iron post about 3-feet high. The equatorial band has no engraved or embossed time marks, but the simple rod gnomon has two side rods. According the the WPL website, "Time on the sundial is read by looking at where the gnomon shadow is cast. This shadow will be the middle, thicker shadow of the three shadow-lines ... Although hours are not marked off on this sundial, you can estimate the time of day by thinking of the gnomon shadow hoop as the clock face and the shadow as the hour hand of that clock." Well, not exactly. The hours are at 15-deg intervals with 12 noon at the bottom of the equatorial band at the intersection of the meridian band. This armillary is more of a sculpture than a timepiece. Yet the armillary has the traditional tropic of Capricorn and Cancer bands as well as Arctic, Antarctic,and horizontal bands.
	Williamsburg	Virginia	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 115
	A 14 inch square brass horizontal dial with hour lines and Roman numerals, compass rose and inscriptions honoring John Barrow. A fluted square pillar supports the dial.
	Williamsburg	Virginia	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 116
	A unique bronze 12-3/8 inch octagonal horizontal dial with one main hour ring for local time and six subsidiary rings that give the time in London, Vienna, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Barbados and Mexico City. The main hour ring shows hours in Roman numerals and ten minute intervals in Arabic numbers; each hour is divided into sixty minute intervals and "fleur-de-lis" decorations are placed at the thirty-minute marks. The subsidiary rings are inscribed with Roman numerals for daylight hours and Arabic numbers for night hours. The presence of subsidiary rings suggests the dial was made with an instructive or "world-view" intent.
	Wills Point	Texas	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 884
	This starburst sundial is 6-3/4 inches in diameter, made of 1/8 inch aluminum plate. The dial is actually set in a 12-point compass rose, showing the azimuth every 30 degrees. Time marks are every 15 minutes with hours in Arabic numerals. All marking, latitude, longitude, and inscription are engraved into the dial plate.
	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.
	Wilmington	Delaware	USA	Vertical Dial	Dial 320
	A round limestone vertical dial about 3 feet in diameter with bronze gnomon. Hours are bronze Roman numerals. No hour lines drawn. The dial is set on the side of a beautiful stone tower. According to a plaque at the tower's base, in 1895 Theodore Leissen recommended a large pavilion and observatory be built on the city's highest hill. At the same time the Water Commission needed a water tower. The plans were merged, resulting in a combine stone water tower 115 feet tall holding half a million gallons and a roofed observatory platform. The dial is on the side of this Rockford Tower.
	Wilmington	Delaware	USA	Vertical Dial	Dial 609
	An 18 x 24 inch cast bronze vertical dial offset from supporting wall by 6.25° to align south. Dial face has hour lines with Arabic numerals and depicts a leaf motif with sun and sun rays and two birds.
	Wilmot	Ohio	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 444
	The Wilderness Center Sundial is large horizontal dial with a 6-foot steel gnomon approximately 27 inches thick. The base is done in slate with copper numbers.
	Windsor	Nova Scotia	Canada	Horizontal Dial	Dial 406
	A small horizontal dial with an 11-inch square base. The dial was made in 1845, but the original was damaged by vandals. There now exists a fiberglass reproduction of the dial with metal gnomon on a cast cement base. The dial has Arabic numerals indicating 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. and corresponding hour lines. The dial is located on the grounds of the Haliburton House, built in 1836 by Thomas Chandler Haliburton, a justice of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia and author of "The Clockmaker" stories.
	Windsor	Connecticut	USA	Equatorial Dial	Dial 211
	Equatorial dial about 5 ft. diameter made of brass and stainless steel The analemma is incorporated into the gnomon compensating for equation of time. Equatorial ring is rotated to compensate for difference in longitude to time zone. Designed and built by Physics/Astor Dept, University of Calgary, Alberta Canada. Dial sits atop a stone plinth marked with Keller's laws.
	Windsor	Ontario	Canada	Vertical Dial	Dial 639
	Two vertical bronze-on-masonry dials on adjacent faces upper faces of a square, 25 foot high tower. Dial faces are aligned approximately SE and SW. A bronze armillary sphere is placed atop the tower. The tower and sundials were designed and built by the Windsor Polish community and dedicated in the Windsor centennial year in memory of M. Kopernik (Copernicus).
	Windsor	Ontario	Canada	Noon Mark or Meridian Dial	Dial 779
	A 12 foot high noon mark dial consisting of two closely spaced triangular vertical plates, a protruding needle and pairs of summer and winter solstice "wings" that together project a shadow onto the surrounding concrete deck within a 40 foot diameter reflecting pool. When the sun totally illuminates the narrow space between the vertical plates, it is local noon and the shadow cast by the protruding needle points true north. On the summer solstice, the shadow cast by the smaller, upper solstice wings will be at its narrowest width. On the winter solstice, the shadow cast by the lower solstice wings will be at its narrowest width.
	Windsor	Ontario	Canada	Armillary Sphere	Dial 780
	A simple armillary dial about two feet in diameter with an equatorial hour ring. The dial is mounted atop a tall, black cylindrical pillar within a formal garden of Willistead Manor. The manor is open to the public on selected days.
	Windsor	Ontario	Canada	Vertical Dial	Dial 874
	A vertical stone sundial made of white quartzite approximately in a 6 x 4 feet rectangle. The dial face includes engraved hour lines from 7am to 6pm in Arabic hour numerals for Eastern Daylight Time and an elegant engraved outline of St. Dimitrije based on a partially preserved 14th century fresco of the Saint in St.Mary's Church, Donja Kamenica, Serbia. Rather than summer and winter solstice lines, a single hyperbola indicates the route of the gnomon shadow's tip on 8 November - the day of St.Demetrius (St. Dimitrije). In fact, the gnomon is represented at St. Demetrius' sword (or more appropriately, his spear). A small bell is engraved at 10am indicating the time of morning liturgy. At about 11:15 if you look closely, you can see the subnode point (polos montaza) of the gnomon tip used for alignment during construction.
	Winston-Salem	North Carolina	USA	Analemmatic Dial	Dial 709
	A 23.5 foot major axis analemmatic dial with a 10 foot tall movable steel vertical gnomon. Hours are marked by numerals on solar-powered lamps on the ellipse at the perimeter bush line. The concrete dial face consists of an 8 foot dais that displays the EOT and hosts a handsome gargoyle. This private dial is available for viewing by contacting the owner.
	Winter Park	Florida	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 515
	A 12-inch diameter horizontal bronze dial set on a simple fluted pedestal. The dial face includes hour lines with half hour and ten minute marks and a central compass rose. The gnomon includes an adjusting screw allowing the gnomon angle to be set to the latitude angle. The dial is located in a small garden area of an elementary school and includes a nearby flagstone bench. The walkway around the dial is of red bricks inscribed with the names of graduating students. Students learned of the death of a 9 year old classmate and through their fundraising efforts helped establish this memorial dial in their schoolyard. A visitor's pass is required from the administration office before viewing.
	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.
	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?
	Woodbridge	Virginia	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 861
	This horizontal dial sits on a low concrete dais 13 feet in diameter. At the interior is an oculus 3 feet in diameter with loose gravel from which a 10-inch I-beam gnomon emerges. The I-Beam extends approximately 4 feet into the air with the north end cut vertical to the ground and then canted back creating a graceful taper on the underside. The dais concrete is of two colors: an inner pink ring 9 feet in diameter and an outer earth-toned ring that serves as a 2 foot wide chapter ring.
	Woodbridge	Virginia	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 534
	A large 62 foot diameter horizontal sundial of grey concrete and brick with a 10 foot high steel gnomon. The dial was designed to memorialize the victims of the 9/11/2001 terrorism and includes four inlaid plaques on which the gnomon shadow falls at 8:45, 9:03, 9:37 and 10:07 AM, the times of the four air crashes. Hour markers are inset brass Roman numerals. The hour lines and NESW compass rose are 2 inch wide inset brass strips.
	Woodland	California	USA	Polar Dial	Dial 1095
	It is a polar dial using a rod gnomon. Using a template from Shadows software, the dial is made of handmade ceramic tiles mounted on an aluminum bar frame anchored to a concrete base. Brass borders define winter and summer solstice declination lines, and an aluminum bar defines the E-W equinox declination. Copper analemmas define the sun’s annual path at 7:30/8:30 PST/PDT and hourly until 5/6PM. Metal balls along the analemmas are placed the 1st of each month. Black declination lines mark the ancient Babylonian Zodiacal signs, designated by different colors. Hours are numbered for PST and PDT. Standard time on the hour, accurate to 1 minute, is read on the tile surface when the gnomon shadow is just under the analemma for that hour. The 1st of each month is marked on tiles in early AM and late PM hours, guiding which side of the analemma is used.
	Woodland	California	USA	Analemmatic Dial	Dial 950
	This colorful analemmatic dial is an opening of the garden path made of decomposed granite. The sundial is 18 feet wide in the E-W direction and just a bit more than 9 feet in the N-S direction. Tile hour marks go from 6am to 7pm, with an additional tile above the 12-noon saying "PST" (Pacific Standard Time). Since there is no longitude correction, the sundial actually shows local solar time. But a nearby plaque with the Equation of Time allows the user to determine true civil time. Bailey Points for showing the direction of sunrise and sunset are planned The central walkway is made of colorful tiles, with each tile representing one month that is clearly labeled.
	Woodland Hills	California	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 1062
	This is a simple, but elegant horizontal dial. A large gnomon pointer sits on a trapezoidal pedestal, creating a large horizontal dial. Surrounding it on a concrete plaza are circular hour marks with standard and daylight saving time.
	Woods Hole	Massachusetts	USA	Pillar Dial	Dial 176
	Stone pillar. Brass EOT graph Four-sided column. Dial on each face, with stone sphere containing a polar axis mounted on the top. Known as the Yalden dial. North gnomon has been placed incorrectly since at least the early 70's.
	Woodside	California	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 558
	A 15 inch diameter well-patinaed horizontal bronze dial on a stone pillar. This dial was designed for a different location. The hour lines are cut for 50? N; the gnomon angle is 46.5? and is miss-located on the dial face.
	Woodstock	Vermont	USA	Analemmatic Dial	Dial 265
	ca 18' ft Concrete blocks Composed of rectangular cement blocks set in a semi-circle with the hours of the day etched into the side of each block. Facing these is a cement walkway with the initials of each month of the year.
	Wooster	Ohio	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 196
	Brass or bronze Gift to the College from the Class of 1907. On S side of gnomon, an embossed figure, possibly Father Time with scythe. Mounted atop a carved stope base with motto, "United in time, parted in time to be reunited when time shall be no more."
	Wooster	Ohio	USA	Vertical Dial	Dial 799
	A vertical dial on a 15 x 40 foot section of a second story brick wall declining 11° east. The gnomon, hour lines and 7 am to 4 pm Arabic hour numerals are aluminum.
	Worcester	Massachusetts	USA	Equatorial Dial	Dial 95
	ca 6' segment of cylinder, approx 3' high Metal Gnomon is intentionally omitted. Visitor stands centered in the curve of the cylinder and places finger on crossbar as directed. Shadow of finger indicates the time.