Hollywood  

 Sundial: 373
State/Province:  Maryland Country:  USA
Dial Type:  Horizontal Dial Condition:  Good
  Latitude and Longitude: 38° 22.600' N  76° 32.550' W
Location:
  • In garden of Sotterley Plantation
    443300 Scotterley Lane
    Hollywood, MD
    Drive south on SR 235 from Hollywood just outside Hollywood, MD
 
Description:
  • A 26 inch hexagonal, English-made slate horizontal dial with a 3/8-inch thick, knife-edge bronze gnomon and no noon gap. Dial face has hour, half-hour and quarter-hour marks in inner bands, and 3-minute marks in the outer band. Hours are marked with Roman numerals.

    The dial sits on a hexagonal pedestal carved with coats-of-arms of families that lived at the plantation, including the Plater, Briscoe and Satterlee families.

    The dial face has four concentric bands of hour numerals. The outer band reads local time with an inscription that notes local noon is also noon at Boston, Peru and C. Redondo, and midnight at Borneo and Chinese Tartary. The second band shows noon in New Zealand, London and other locations. Two additional inner bands show noon in still other cities around the world.

    The plantation house overlooking the Patuxent River was constructed between 1710 and 1717 by James Bowles. Bowles died in 1727 and Sotterley Plantation passed through Plater and Briscoe ownership. The plantation was bought by Herbert L. Satterlee in 1910 and restored, including his vision of an 18th century garden in which he placed this sundial, received as a gift, in 1925.

    Admission fee is required. Call 301-373-2280 for hours.
 
General Information:
  • Owner: Historic Sotterley, Inc.
  • Designer:
  • Builder:
  • Construction Date: Circa 1925
 
References:
  • NASS Compendium, Vol 5, No. 3, p. 9, 1998

Last Revised: 7/23/2011 11:21