Woodland  

 Sundial: 950
State/Province:  California Country:  USA
Dial Type:  Analemmatic Dial Condition:  Excellent
  Latitude and Longitude: 38° 41.378' N  121° 52.380' W
Location:
  • Cache Creek Nature Preserve 34199 County Road 20, Woodland, CA
    Sundial is just outside the Jan T. Lowry Memorial Garden. The Nature Preserve is open Sunday-Friday 8 AM to 4 PM, free of charge.

    Formerly on the campus of University of California, Davis in the Honey Bee Garden
 
Description:
  • 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.

    Richard Williams worked on the design of the sundial for several years. Where the calculations were straightforward, creating the ceramic tiles was a challenge. With the help from his wife, a ceramic artist, the challenge was warping of the large tiles during firing. It took several trials to get tiles that were flat. He chose to use the Schluter System and epoxy grout for installation to ensure the sundial's durability.
 
General Information:Inscription:
  • Owner: Cache Creek Conservancy
  • Nearby is a plaque showing how to use the analemmatic dial and an Equation of Time table to determine civil time.
  • Designer: Richard Williams
  • Builder: Richard Williams
  • Construction Date: Installed at Cache Creek Jan 2025
 
References:
  • Originally installed in 2019 at the Honey Bee Garden of UC Davis, a change in administration pointed to the dial no longer being maintained. With UC Davis permission, the dial was removed in the summer of 2024 and reinstalled at Cache Creek Nature Preserve in Jan 2025

Attachments Available:

Last Revised: 2025-02-01 17:27:13