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.

 

Vermont

 
Burlington Vermont USA Equatorial Dial Dial 719
A 6-1/2 foot tall, 4 foot diameter helical cylinder equatorial dial of self-weathering COR-TEN steel plate. The 2 foot long beveled edges of the two ends of the helix serve as gnomons, casting shadows for standard time and daylight saving time onto the interior surface. Time is indicated by the dominant shadow, top in summer and bottom in winter. Hour marks are shallow bored holes in the interior surface; no numerals are present but the noon mark is indicated by two small adjacent holes. The helical curved edges allow shadows to fall on the interior surface throughout the year as solar declination varies. An adjacent bronze plaque describes the dial and gives an EOT and longitude correction graph. Dial is supported by a curved COR-TEN steel plate allowing some springy motion.
 
 
Burlington Vermont USA Vertical Dial Dial 161
2'8" x 2' oval. Probably of Bronze. Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Willard Pope. Planned by Prof. Betty Bandel. Hour lines are curved to compensate for EoT. Rings indicate months. Difficult to read due to height above ground. (ca. 12' above ground level.) Dial faces approx 5 degrees East of due South. Built by W. M. Schenk.
 
 
Burlington Vermont USA Horizontal Dial Dial 182
Approximately 16 inch square metal horizontal dial with engraved dial face. Photo taken approximately 1965. Dial may have been removed. May required admission to Shelburne Museum.
 
 
Burlington Vermont USA Reflective Equatorial Dial 694
A 40 inch tall, helical, lens focusing projection equatorial dial of bronze and glass. A sliding time scale adjusts for longitude, DST and EOT. Cylindrical focusing mirrors project a sharply focused band of light on the inside of the helical time scale. This is a Precision Sundials Renaissance sundial.
 
 
Burlington Vermont USA Equatorial Dial Dial 693
An approximately 30-inch diameter equatorial dial of painted steel with a sandblasted stainless steel dial plate. Dial face has two hour circles showing EST and EDST with Arabic numerals. Longitude correction is not included and there is no EOT information provided.
 
 
Burlington Vermont USA Analemmatic Dial Dial 692
This Circles of Peace dial is a combination calendrical and analemmatic design consisting of fourteen 5 to 10 foot high granite stones in a 43 foot diameter circle oriented to align with sunset on the solstices, equinoxes and cross-quarter days. An inner sixteen foot major diameter analemmatic dial includes 12 hour marker stones and a central stone that also shows the directions of sunset on the corresponding major dates. The calendar stone calculations and survey placement was done by NASS member Bill Gottesman.
 
 
Burlington Vermont USA Analemmatic Dial Dial 506
A small table top analemmatic dial 31 x 23 inches, made of Rock Sandstone & gold-plated brass. Has sunrise and sunset seasonal markers. Date line divided into weeks.
 
 
Danville Vermont USA Vertical Dial Dial 879
A simple vertical dial created on the front brick wall of the high school. There are no hour lines, but large Roman numerals are placed from 10am to 5pm to delineate the hours using Daylight Saving Time (where the 1pm hour is on the vertical). The gnomon is a simple rod.
 
 
Dummerston Vermont USA Hours to Sunset Dial 366
This 4 x 8 foot vertical dial declines 8.4° west of south and displays "Italian Hours". Located on the southern gable of a hanger along a grass strip airport (fondly called the "Dummerston International"), the dial serves to tell pilots how many hours remain before sunset. The dial is painted board with vinyl lines, letters and numerals. A sign at the base explains how to read the dial. The dial was built by Mac Oglesby and Eliot Kimble. A smaller 2 x 2 foot vertical decliner is located on the western side of the hanger building as well. It too shows Italian hours.
 
 
Hanover Vermont USA Vertical Dial Dial 702
A four foot octagonal dial painted on the south wall of Shattuck Observatory. Dial face has hour lines with 15 minute marks and Roman numerals. Dial need repainting.
 
 
Jerico Vermont USA Horizontal Dial Dial 70
50 foot diameter horizontal dial of steel, concrete and stone. Called "Polaris". The gnomon is 10 foot high forming a stone pyramid. As the sun shines through a hole at the center, an analemma is traced on the ground. Markers identify equinox sunrises and solstice sunsets. The dial was built by Kate Pond and her students. See NASS Compendium Vol 1, No. 2, May 1994.
 
 
Johnson Vermont USA Horizontal Dial Dial 71
One of Kate Pond's first dials, a winning design for an 18 foot diameter dial that now resides on the University of North Vermont - Johnson green. Concrete, Stainless Steel. On the ground concrete paths mark the N-S and E-W axes. The gnomon is a 3 inch stainless steel pipe 9 feet long attached to a concrete base. The hours are marked with 1 foot diameter Vermont granite stones, and at the cardinal points are larger stone markers. Kenneth Leslie, Assistant Professor of Art, remarked, " I have the idea of a student sitting against the North marker, reading a newspaper for a noon class, and knowing it's time to leave when the shadow crosses his paper."
 
 
Manchester Vermont USA Vertical Dial Dial 416
A beautiful vertical declining dial, done in white lines and numerals on the side of a red barn. Made of metal and wood, the overall height is about 15 feet. The dial has a clean, modern design using tapered hour lines and simple gnomon. The Arabic numerals for each hour are graded in size to match the size of their hour line, with the largest at noon and the smallest at 8am and 5pm.
 
 
Norwich Vermont USA Horizontal Dial Dial 630
A 12 inch square gray granite horizontal dial with bronze gnomon on a terracotta and stucco pedestal. Corrected for longitude to read EST. EOT corrections to nearest half-minute for the 1st and 15th of each month are engraved on edges of dial face. This is a private dial, not generally available for viewing. Dial sits atop a post of terracotta covered with stucco.
 
 
Randolph City Vermont USA Armillary Sphere Dial 266
10 foot Cor-ten steel, concrete Entitled: Armillary VII. Contains an ecliptic ring, an equatorial ring and a gnomon ring. Engraved with the signs of the zodiac.
 
 
South Burlington Vermont USA Horizontal Dial Dial 264
An 8 foot wrought iron steel horizontal dial. Design is of two circles enclosing one another and quartered. Outer circle is 11 foot wide with beaded edges and Roman hour numerals. Inner circle is 3'4" diameter quartered disk. Surveyed in 1992, finding condition very poor; steel dial is rusted. No motto or plaque is provided.
 
 
South Burlington Vermont USA Sun Alignment Dial 695
A calendrical dial sculpture of light beams projected onto the crushed stone surface of a 60 foot diameter meditative labyrinth. Two cylindrical focusing mirrors are located atop 10 foot poles and project short bars of sunlight that wander around the labyrinth but intersect on the equinoxes and winter solstice to form a cross at the center of the labyrinth at solar noon.
 
 
South Woodstock Vermont USA Vertical Dial Dial 569
A painted 47x72 inch vertical dial of red oak declining east. Markings include analemmas for each hour, solstice declination lines and day lines for the first of each month with Zodiac icons on perimeter. Contact dial designer David Scott to arrange viewing.
 
 
Springfield Vermont USA Vertical Dial Dial 542
A 52x55 inch painted wood vertical dial designed and built by Russell Porter. The wood gnomon is stabilized by copper sheet. Available for viewing at the summer Stellafane Telescope Makers conference or by arrangement by email with owner.
 
 
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.
 
 
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.