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.

Missouri

	Joplin	Missouri	USA	Vertical Dial	Dial 979
	This is a simple but nicely engraved vertical sundial about 2-foot square made of concrete. The hour lines are delineated every half hour and marked on the hour in Arabic numbers. The gnomon is at least 1-inch thick, now epoxied into place. The hour lines converge correctly to the morning and afternoon toe of the gnomon, but no split noon hour line is seen. The dial is slightly recessed into the brick wall on the eastern edge correcting the Joplin street lay out of 1873 that used magnetic north that was 10 degrees east of north.
	Joshua Tree	California	USA	Armillary Sphere	Dial 625
	A 5 foot diameter steel armillary sphere with 6 foot gnomon rod. Inner surface of equatorial ring has cast Roman numerals; outer surface has cast Zodiac signs colored gold. Sphere is supported by 13 inch high four-flange base. Dial sits on a 42 inch high cast concrete cylindrical base.
	Juneau	Alaska	USA	Analemmatic Dial	Dial 454
	Painted on a downtown sidewalk is an analemmatic sundial for public use. The 25 x 20 foot sundial was organized as a community project. Eden Orelove, niece of designer Michael Orelove said, "We wanted to get as many school classes and local volunteer organizations involved as possible." Groups were invited to join the project by painting the hourly numbers. Two concentric ring of numbers are used to indicate both standard and daylight saving time, which extends from 4 am to 10 pm.
	Kalamazoo	Michigan	USA	Analemmatic Dial	Dial 430
	A modernistic analemmatic dial. The ellipse is a raised stone wall with large Arabic numbers for each hour from 5am to 7 pm. The concrete patio in front of the wall contains the analemmatic line of months as an indicator of where to stand for casting the shadow.
	Kalamazoo	Michigan	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 96
	Large circular bench ca 25' in diameter forms ring with hour markings. Aluminum or stainless steel gnomon. Relatively new.
	Kalamazoo	Michigan	USA	Compound Dial	Dial 733
	A combination horizontal, vertical, polar and equatorial dial 4 x 5 x 6 foot tall made of drilled aluminum plate with rod gnomon. The vertical plate shows the EOT graph and depiction of Earth showing polar tilt, celestial equator and Earth equator using drilled holes. The bottom plate below the equatorial face includes a compass rose that also shows the direction of sunrise and sunset at the solstices. All dial faces are marked using Arabic numerals with hour and 15 minute marks. The Kalamazoo Nature Center is open most days and charges an admission fee.
	Kamloops	British Columbia	Canada	Horizontal Dial	Dial 959
	A simple horizontal dial consisting of a 6' gnomon made of black-painted steel tubes set in a circular concrete patio.The dial is located in a pleasantly laid out xeno garden (planted for arid conditions) with benches and a pergola. A riverside walk passes close by, and the whole area is designated for recreational and sports use. The gnomon is unusual for its plain industrial feel, and the use of wire mesh to fill in the gnomon's triangular substyle area. As well, the north end of the gnomon is formed by a pole that extends an extra 6' upwards, topped off by a weather vane.
	Kaneohe	Hawaii	USA	Armillary Sphere	Dial 543
	A 32-inch diameter bronze armillary dial with extensive Polynesian-themed motif. An integral plaque provides corrections for EOT and longitude within HST. The armillary includes ten bronze rings: horizon; solstitial colure (meridian); equinoctial (equator); Tropic of Cancer; Tropic of Capricorn; Arctic circle; Antarctic circle; "prime vertical circle" perpendicular to the meridian circle and horizon that spans from east to zenith to west; equinoctial colure perpendicular to meridian circle and equator passing through the north and south poles; and an "upright ring" inscribed with Zodiacal signs between the prime vertical and equator.
	Kaneohe	Hawaii	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 715
	the original 12 inch diameter bronze horizontal dial has been replaced with a large armillary. The bronze meridian ring is approximately 24-inch in diameter. The equatorial band is about 4-inches wide with Roman numerals marking the hours. The gnomon is a traditional arrow rod. The dial base is approximately 12-inches in diameter with the zodiac names, pictograph, and symbols surrounding the dial. The dial base rests on a square pedestal of mortared stone .
	Kannapolis	North Carolina	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 703
	A large horizontal cast concrete dial on a brick patio. Dial face includes hour lines and Roman numerals. Dial is dedicated as a tribute to the men and women of Kannapolis who died while serving in the US armed forces.
	Kearney	Nebraska	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 722
	A 32 inch diameter bicolored Coconino sandstone horizontal dial with hour, half and quarter hour marks and Arabic hour numerals showing DST with longitude correction. The large noon gap is marked, High Noon. Dial face has carved time ribbon with inlayed brass balls on quarter hours. Gnomon sides show carved sunface and moonface. Dial is placed on a cast concrete pedestal approximately 20 inches high.
	Kelowna	British Columbia	Canada	Equatorial Dial	Dial 716
	An approximately 18 inch diameter equatorial dial of brushed aluminum and stainless steel with painted steel equatorial and meridian supports. Hour lines and Arabic hour numerals are marked on dial face and a bow string gnomon is tensioned by the meridian arc, which is adjustable for latitude and provided with a marked scale. Meridian arc is supported on a 3-inch diameter steel pole fixed in concrete.
	Kelowna	British Columbia	Canada	Shadow Plane Dial	Dial 960
	It is a large sculpture that acts as a shadow plane dial delineated at hourly intervals. The dial is about 3m high. It is made of mild steel with a concrete base, very precisely cut and installed. It shows local solar time, delineated at hourly intervals. Each shadow plane projects onto a small vane that has notches cut out, the number of notches indicating the hour. This dial is one of the earlier artworks by Alan Storey, a successful Canadian sculptor specializing in large-scale public art. The setting is a pleasant tree-lined courtyard at the center of the campus. in the years since the courtyard was laid out and the dial installed, the trees have grown large and cast shade on the dial. The best time to view the dial in sun is probably mid-morning, or in the winter when deciduous trees have lost their leaves.
	Kennesaw	Georgia	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 948
	Developers of Kennesaw Gateway Park, a new group of townhouses within walking distance of of town center, collaborated with Kennesaw State University (KSU) to design and fabricate a 9-foot tall horizontal sundial that has been placed in the circular plaza of the housing common area. Page Burch, a lecturer of KSU's Master Craftsman Program was the lead coordinator to design and fabricate the sundial gnomon. The stainless steel gnomon has a brass veneer and an unusual tilted based that nevertheless results in the the gnomon angle of 34 degrees exactly correct for the site latitude.
	Kennett Square	Pennsylvania	USA	Analemmatic Dial	Dial 328
	37.2 ft x 23.8 ft. This is probably the world's largest analemmatic, unusually designed to show standard time directly. It took 8 years of daily readings to perfect the sundial, which is accurate to within 2 minutes. Hour markers are bronze Roman numerals. Minute lines inscribed in limestone curbing. The gnomon itself is a moveable pole that is set on an AM or PM daily curve. NASS member P. Kenneth Seidelman was instrumental in correcting this design in 1978.
	Kennett Square	Pennsylvania	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 329
	Dating from 1976, this "secret" garden room (once a sundial garden with boxwood parterre) was designed by Thomas Church and is on the western side of the 1908 Square Fountain pool. The ground level horizontal dial is limestone with an iron gnomon. Hour lines identified by Roman numerals; hours divided into minutes. Hour line distribution adjusted for style width. EoT engraved on PM side of dial face. Dial sits atop a large mortared stone base.
	Ketchum	Idaho	USA	Gnomonic or Projection Dial	Dial 582
	This sundial was never finished. Update 8/10/2007 from Brad Needham: Thanks for the question about the Ketchum sundial. It's a puzzling work, and it took me quite a few Google searches to find a bit of the story: evidently a local (to the Ketchum area) sculptor submitted a sundial design to the city, and somehow the deal fell apart after the dial was made but before the sculptor finished the gnomon. So Ketchum is left with all the markers in the street intersection for the equinox, the noon summer and winter solstices, and an analemma (of some sort), but no gnomon to make it all work.
	Kingston	Ontario	Canada	Vertical Dial	Dial 450
	A square pillar of limestone rocks 4 foot on a side and 15 feet high with a small bowl and sphere on top hold two vertical dials each 2x2 feet. The pillar faces are oriented SE and SW allowing for two declining dials. The dials are of solid brass and have hour lines with Arabic numbers in a modern design belying by the stonework of the pillars. Unfortunately the 14-inch gnomons are bent
	Knoxville	Tennessee	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 166
	78" w x 168" h x 78" d Steel, brass & etched glass As the sun penetrates the building a shadow is cast from the gnomon onto the 1 inch thick laminated glass which has hour lines etched into its surface. The time is viewed from the underside of the dial. A deep carved mountain landscape is artificially lighted in the lower section.
	Kohler Village	Wisconsin	USA	Vertical Dial	Dial 290
	A direct east vertical dial approximately 5 feet square, ornately painted onto the side of the Waelderhaus at Kohler Village. The Waelderhaus is a tribute to the tradition of Bregenzerwald, a province of Vorarlberg, Austria, and represents the architecture of this particular Alpine Area. The dial is painted in gold and white with flourishes. A top scroll shows hours with Arabic numerals while a bottom scroll shows the hours with Roman numerals. Lines for solstice, equinox, and signs of the zodiac are drawn across the faces of the dial. No analemma is drawn.
	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.
	Kokomo	Indiana	USA	Analemmatic Dial	Dial 867
	This brightly decorated analemmatic sundial is painted on the asphalt to look like a book turning into flowers, showing the combination of literacy and nature. The dial is approximately 10 foot wide with hour marks from 5am to 7pm with drawings of various flowers. Noon is marked with a large sunflower. The central walkway is simply done with the abbreviated names of the months, one column in green, the other in red.
	La Canada	California	USA	Armillary Sphere	Dial 881
	The bronze equatorial dial is about 24" diameter, and has equatorial, meridian and horizon rings. It sits on top of a stone pedestal. The equatorial ring is supported by 24 spokes, spaced at 15 degrees. Around the rim 24 hour numerals in Arabic. The twelve signs of the zodiac are spaced every other hour on the equatorial rim. The orientation to true north and inclination were verified to be correct for the site. The sundial was a gift from the Kresser Smith family to the Descanso Gardens Guild in 1987 on the occasion of the guild's 30th anniversary.
	La Crosse	Wisconsin	USA	Equatorial Dial	Dial 217
	A 40 inch diameter armillary on a 2 foot tall cement cubic base. The original analemma-shaped gnomon was missing and replaced with a section of loose ordinary electric wire. Includes a longitude-correction plaque showing the corrections throughout 15 degrees longitude. Dial sits atop a 26 inch high, 26 inch square pedestal. Robert Allen states that this dial is a scaled down version of the one at the San Diego Zoological Garden, and that there is a similar one at Williams College in Williamstown MA.
	La Grange	Kentucky	USA	Equatorial Dial	Dial 955
	This equatorial dial is improvised using a 13 inch diameter aluminum plate embossed with fleur de lis around the perimeter. Hour lines run from 6am to 6pm with Arabic markers only at 12 and the 6's.
	La Porte	Texas	USA	Armillary Sphere	Dial 216
	Approximately 6 foot diameter bronze armillary dial with equatorial, meridian and equinoctial colure rings and with Arctic and Antarctic circle rings. Hour lines have 5 minute marks and Roman numerals. Equatorial ring has Zodiacal signs. Base shows the Great Seal of Texas and includes a bronze eternal flame. Names of fallen heroes are inscribed on the base and paths to and from the dial lead to location of Sam Houston's troops prior to the battle of San Jacinto. The San Jacinto Monument is seen in the distance.
	Lafayette	Indiana	USA	Equatorial Dial	Dial 376
	An 8 foot high equatorial dial of welded stainless steel with a brass gnomon and brass equatorial ring. The 60 inch diameter equatorial ring is engraved with hour marks and Roman numerals. Dial was commissioned by the cities of Lafayette and West Lafayette in celebration of the Millennium. Dial sits atop a short concrete pedestal.
	Laie	Hawaii	USA	Vertical Dial	Dial 1105
	To accommodate Hawaii's low latitude, this is a reclining sundial more than a meter (3 feet) in diameter and stands over 2 meters (6 feet) tall. It is carved from a dark, igneous stone with a bronze conical gnomon and set on bronze legs. The sundial includes a separate, stone-carved legend that includes an explanation of how to correct the gnomon shadow-time indicated on the dial for the time of year. The sundial, taken as a whole is reminiscent of a bird, enhanced by the conical gnomon and sun on the horizon given two eyes. At the edge of the dial are symbols of the zodiac
	Lake Buena Vista	Florida	USA	Gnomonic or Projection Dial	Dial 221
	Conical dial 120 ft. high, 122 ft. diameter at base and has an 85 ft circular opening to the sky. In the middle of the opening is a spherical nodus that casts its shadow into the concrete structure. According to the Guinness Book of Records in 1995, this is the world's largest sundial. Designed by Isozaki and calculated by Ross McCluney, the sundial is a large truncated, slanted cone, with hour markings on the inside. McCluney was NASS's first president.
	Lake Cowichan	British Columbia	Canada	Horizontal Dial	Dial 989
	This is a beautiful but standard mass-produced dial, with chapter rings for Roman numerals, hour lines, half and quarter hour lines. In the center is the sun surrounded by a compass rose, The dial itself is brass, but sits on a round cast iron base all sitting on a square concrete pillar. The gnomon was vandalized and now is missing. The base is losing its protective coat of paint and starting to rust. A thick hedge has grown up around the sundial, obscuring the sun on the east, south and west sides. It appears to be largely ignored.
	Lake Forest	Illinois	USA	Vertical Dial	Dial 805
	A vertical south-facing dial, simple in design and visible to the shoppers in the U-shaped town square below. The dial face is plane white with Roman hour numbers fastened to a rod bent in an ellipse. No other delineation (such as solstice and equinox lines) is on the dial face. The gnomon is a simple rod held by an "S" shaped support.
	Lake Havasu City	Arizona	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 647
	An 8 x 9 foot horizontal dial of powder coat painted aluminum panels 1/4-inch thick assembled onto a concrete pad. Perimeter shows Arabic hour numerals 9-2 with 5-minute dots placed in arcs below the numerals. EOT correction is provided through four graphics on the dial face under the gnomon and sliding "T Square" indicators showing the corrections on rulers. EOT values are corrected for longitude. Dial face plates are supported on poured concrete pad. Dial is on private property. Contact the owner to arrange viewing.
	Lake Oswego	Oregon	USA	Analemmatic Dial	Dial 763
	An analemmatic dial with 20 foot major axis, 14 foot minor axis with hour markers and date line made of sandblasted concrete paver stones. A platform stand on the west side holds instructions on using the dial. A preliminary version of this dial was included on the 2009 NASS Conference Sundial Tour.
	Lake Wales	Florida	USA	Vertical Dial	Dial 36
	Beautiful vertical dial, approx 12x6 foot of Georgia marble with a brass gnomon approx 5 foot long. Declination lines present. Hour & half hour lines with hours in Roman numerals. Sunburst pattern above gnomon. From the Guidebook, published by the Garden: 'The famous sundial carved on the south wall of the Tower indicates the latitude and longitude of Iron Mountain. It is known as an erect declining dial as it stands vertically at an exact right angle with the surface of the earth... and does not face directly south but is tilted towards the east with a declination of 4 degrees, 20 minutes.' It has an Equation of time chart and shows the days of the months as well. Directions are to 'Add minutes shown for each day to obtain Eastern Standard Time.'
	Lake Wales	Florida	USA	Analemmatic Dial	Dial 562
	A large stone analemmatic in the Endangered Plant Garden.
	Lakewood	New Jersey	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 540
	A horizontal dial of cast brass or bronze with a 2-foot diameter dial face showing hours in Roman and Arabic numerals. Coordinates and EOT corrections are shown as is the university motto, "Georgian Court: Bonitas, Disciplina, Scientia." Sundial face is also the sun in a scale model of the solar system, with the planets depicted in brass plaques placed at to-scale distances.
	Lakewood	New Jersey	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 615
	A one-foot diameter bronze horizontal dial on a carved marble base depicting three satyrs holding up the dial. Sundial is original to the Gould estate, now Georgian Court University campus. The dial is supported by a carved marble sculpture depicting three satyrs.
	Lampeter	Pennsylvania	USA	Vertical Dial	Dial 545
	A 32x64-inch cast stone vertical declining dial located 25 feet up a vertical column at the school's entrance. An EOT plaque is located below the dial.
	Lancaster	Pennsylvania	USA	Heliochronometer	Dial 875
	This 7.5 inch diameter heliochronometer was milled out of aluminum and set to the site latitude with a mounting plate. One heliochronometer arm has a sun illumination counter sunk hole 0.125 inch in diameter and on the other arm an engraved analemma for proper pointing offset to display civil time. Time marks are milled at 5 minute intervals, and a vernier is added (5 lines 4 minutes apart) so that time can be read to the nearest minute.
	Langford	British Columbia	Canada	Horizontal Dial	Dial 736
	A cast bronze horizontal dial with thick bronze gnomon. Dial face shows hour lines and quarter-hour marks, and Roman hour numerals. Dial center includes a compass rose.
	Lansing	Michigan	USA	Vertical Dial	Dial 923
	This is a vertical, east-declining sundial, 22 ft 6 in by 15 ft 10 in. The dial is constructed of 6061 aluminum alloy pieces electrostatically painted and bolted together,then mounted on a concrete block wall. The position of the gnomon, hour, solstice, and equinoctial lines are corrected for longitude to show time zone solar time. Stenciled hour line numbers are changed to display DST or EST at appropriate times of the year. Visitors can determine the correct time by referring to an Equation of Time display. During the year, the triangular gnomon tip casts its shadow on the declination lines of summer and winter solstices and equinoxes. This is the largest known vertical sundial in Michigan, and one of the largest in the United States.
	Laramie	Wyoming	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 159
	An ornate 18 inch brass horizontal dial sits on a massive four-stone block pedestal. The dial has hour lines from 4am to 8pm, with hours in roman numerals. Time is graduated into 5-minute intervals. The 12-noon mark is 3/8 inch wide, allowing for the gnomon which is missing.
	Las Cruces	New Mexico	USA	Equatorial Dial	Dial 452
	A large equatorial dial with steel gnomon. The massive dial is set simply on a set of tiered platforms. The inner tiers are rotated from the outer to align to the cardinal points. Elsie Raye Rigney Carr and Dr. Jesse Lawrence Carr gave the dial to the university in 1975 in memory of Raye Hines Rigney, Class of 1911.
	Las Vegas	Nevada	USA	Equatorial Dial	Dial 581
	An equatorial dial with partial armillary rings made of stainless steel and brass with chrome trim. Dial face has hour lines for solar and longitude-corrected time. Inscribed with zodiacal symbols and dates. Dial is on private property but may be viewed from street.
	Las Vegas	Nevada	USA	Analemmatic Dial	Dial 634
	An approximate 10 foot x 6 foot analemmatic dial on pavement sloping 3° to east. Hour lines and sunrise/sunset markers are brass inserts placed in pavement.
	Lawrence	Kansas	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 263
	24x42x42' Concrete, stainless steel 17x2x21' The original limestone pointer and 'Eutin' flower were vandalized and replaced by stainless steel pointer and cast concrete flower.
	League City	Texas	USA	Equatorial Dial	Dial 678
	A small ornate bronze equatorial dial with Roman numeral hours marked on inside of equatorial ring and Zodiacal signs on back side and also on base of dial. Dial is places on a flagstone and cement pedestal.
	Leesburg	Virginia	USA	Horizontal Dial	Dial 255
	A small bronze horizontal dial 9.25 inches (23.5 cm) in diameter on an 18 x 18 inch (46 x 46 cm) block of marble. The pedestal of Tennessee marble rests on the back of a carved tortoise. The sides of the square block capital are deeply carved with oak leaves and acorns. When the dial was seen in 1998, the dial was not aligned to north.
	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.
	Lewisburg	Pennsylvania	USA	Cylindrical Dial	Dial 445
	A large, ornate equatorial dial of brass sits outside the physics department building. The dial is approximately 8 feet across. Two pillars with brass balls support the dial plate. Two more pillars with ball support the gnomon wire. To add a flourish, the north most pillar and ball have a spread eagle holding the gnomon wire in its mouth. Unfortunately this beautiful dial is tarnished by age, with the analemmas for each hour barely visible on the dial plate. The gnomon wire, broken sometime in the past, is jury-rigged and tied together in the middle, resulting in a unkempt look to such a fine dial. A dark, round stone base, perhaps made of slate, approximately 8 foot in diameter supports the dial and pillars. The stone sits upon a 10 x 10 foot concrete pad.