Washington, D.C.
- Eastern High School, District of Columbia Public Schools
- Folger Shakespeare Gallery, National Park Service
- Washington International School
- McKinley Technology High School, District of Columbia Public Schools
- Montrose Park, National Park Service
- National Academy of Sciences
- Potomac Riverside
- Smithsonian Institution
- Washington National Cathedral
- Washington National Cathedral, Bishop's Garden
Row 1: CLC_DSCF2603.JPG; CLC_DSCF2605.JPG
Row 2: CLC_DSCF2606.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
Washington #202
Location: Eastern High School, E Capitol St. between 17th and 18th St.
Remarks: Vertical on S facade over main entry, facing East Capitol Street.
School is dated 1923. Square sandstone dial with bronze Arabic numerals
and trefoil
[sic] pierced gnomon. Elevation approx. 30 ft. Large projecting towers
place dial in shadow in early morning and late afternoon. Similar to
McKinley HS dial (#207).
Erratum: Actually, gnomon features a quatrefoil pierced gnomon.
1700 E. Capitol St., N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Phone: 202-698-4500
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Folger Shakespeare Library
Row 1: CLC_DSCF2612.JPG; CLC_DSCF2615.JPG
Row 2: CLC_DSCF2626.JPG; CLC_DSCF2627.JPG
Row 3: CLC_DSCF2628.JPG; CLC_DSCF2633.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
Washington #257
Location: Folger Shakespeare Gallery, E. Capitol St. & 3d St.
Remarks: Armillary - the sphere is unremarkable yet is oriented accurately
and is complete. It commemorates a longtime gallery official.
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Washington International School
Row 1: CLC_DSCF2742.JPG; CLC_DSCF2744.JPG
Row 2: CLC_DSCF2748.JPG; CLC_DSCF2749.JPG
Row 3: CLC_DSCF2754.JPG; CLC_DSCF2755.JPG
Row 4: CLC_DSCF2757.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
Washington #206
Location: Washington International School, near 34th St. on Macomb St. NW
Remarks: Vertical declining dial, with gnomon offset to account for it.
Above doors to rear terrace. Carved hourglasses frame the dial. Brass
compass rose set into the brick terrace below suggests the general
alignment of both house and dial.
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Row 1: CLC_DSCF2594.JPG; CLC_DSCF2595.JPG
Row 2: CLC_DSCF2597.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
Washington #207
Location: McKinley High School, Facing R St between 1st and 2nd St NW
Remarks: 60-80 feet up on an octagonal power plant smokestack. Difficult
to read, but safe from vandalism. School dated 1928. Oblong sandstone dial
with bronze Arabic numerals and long cast sunburst gnomon.
5600 East Capitol St., N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20019
Phone: 202-388-8950
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Montrose & Dumbarton Parks
Row 1: CLC_MP1.JPG; CLC_MP2.JPG
Row 2: CLC_MP3.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
Washington #205 (Updated 07-00)
Location: Montrose Park, along R Street NW, opposite Avon Place
Reference: Geo. McDowell, Twelve Sundials of Washington, nr. 9
Remarks: Very nicely done armillary sphere, with equatorial, meridional
and hour circles. One of Washington's cleanest examples of a working
armillary sphere. Erected by the Georgetown Garden Club. Photo
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The National Academies
Row 1: CLC_NAS1.JPG; CLC_NAS2.GIF
NASS Sundial Register
Washington #210
Location: National Academy of Sciences, 22nd & C Streets
Remarks: Gnomon missing, in hands of the groundskeeper, as it will not
stay in place. The dial is modern, honoring George Donald Meid for service
to the National Academy.
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Row 1: CLC_PotR1.jpg; CLC_PotR2.jpg
Row 2: CLC_PotR3.jpg; CLC_PotR4.jpg
NASS Sundial Register
Washington #208
Location: South end of 30th St. NW, a few feet from the Potomac River
Remarks: Large, ground level dial with 5' stepped hollow metal gnomon
recalls the much larger Indian observatory dials. An appropriate poetic
passage, once bolted to the gnomon, has disappeared.
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Row 1: CLC_DSCF2656.JPG; CLC_DSCF2659.JPG
Row 2: CLC_DSCF2664.JPG; CLC_DSCF2794.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
Washington #218
Location: Smithsonian, Enid A. Haupt Garden
Remarks: New horizontal dial, designed and built by David Shayt and David
Todd of the Smithsonian Institution. Roman numerals, 5AM-7PM. Subdivided
into 15 minute increments. Photo
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Wahington National Cathedral
Row 1: CLC_WNC-DSCF2690.JPG; CLC_WNC-DSCF2693.JPG
Row 2: CLC_WNC-DSCF2739.JPG; CLC_WNC1.JPG
Row 3: CLC_WNC2.JPG; CLC_WNC3.JPG
Row 4: CLC_WNC4.JPG; CLC_WNC5.JPG
Row 5: CLC_WNC6.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
Washington #34 (Updated 09-02)
Location: National Cathedral
Remarks: A cathedral landmark. 6 foot rectangular crypt with a 2 foot
circular horizontal dial in bronze. Ajoining the dial is a cross noon
marker that casts its shadow onto the crypt with major Christian holidays
marked throughout the year. Photo
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Row 1: CLC_WNC-BG1.jpg; CLC_WNC-BG2.jpg
Row 2: CLC_WNC-BG3.jpg; CLC_WNC-BG4.jpg
NASS Sundial Register
Washington #203
Location: National Cathedral, Bishop's Garden
Remarks: Bishop's garden east of the Landmark dial (#34) has a weathered
13th C. capital on which sits a horizontal brass dial. 'Tho Heath, London'
engraved it and the year 1712, along with many other lines. On the
noonline is the indication "Hammersmith", a location on the (then)
outskirts of London at 51:30N 0:14W. Heath is one of the Grocers' Company
mathematical instrument makers. Many of Heath's dials have a coat of arms
on it.
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Maryland
- Cylburn Arboretum, Baltimore, MD
- Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, MD
- John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
- Sacred Heart Chapel, Bowie, MD
- Hampton, College Park, MD
- University of Maryland, College Park, MD
- St. Mary's College, St. Mary's City, MD
- All Saints Episcopal Church, Sunderland, MD
- Brookside Gardens Botanical Sundial, Wheaton, MD
http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/government/recnparks/parks.htm
Row 1: CLC_DSCF2539.JPG; CLC_DSCF2542.JPG
Row 2: CLC_Dscf2545.jpg; CLC_DSCF2551.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
Baltimore #325 (Updated 05-04)
Location: Clyburn [sic] Arboretum, behind mansion at 4915 Greenspring Ave
Remarks: Horizontal in bronze. "The gnomon is a wire stretched from the
dial's center at the proper angle to the beak of a bird perched on the rim
of the dial plate. The bird is apparently the 'early bird' as the worm is
nowhere to be found." (G. McDowell). Photo
Note: The wire (the "worm") that serves as a gnomon is missing. [Ref. C.L. Chiu.]
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http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/government/recnparks/parks.htm
Druid Hill Park
Row 1: CLC_DSCF6343.JPG; CLC_DSCF6346.JPG
Row 2: CLC_DSCF6348.JPG; CLC_DSCF6349.JPG
Row 3: CLC_DSCF6351.JPG; CLC_DSCF6352.JPG
Row 4: CLC_DSCF6355.JPG; CLC_DSCF6356.JPG
Row 5: CLC_DSCF6380.JPG; CLC_DSCF6383.JPG
Row 6: CLC_DSCF6385.JPG; CLC_DSCF6386.JPG
Row 7: CLC_DSCF6403.JPG; CLC_DSCF6402l.jpg
NASS Sundial Register
Baltimore #91 (Updated 05-95)
Location: Druid Hill Park
Remarks: A 17 facet hemispherical compendium dial. Has facets calibrated
for local solar time for Baltimore, Jeddo [Tokyo], Honolulu, Sitka,
Pitcairn Islands, San Francisco, Cape Cod, Rio Jancito, London, Fernano
Po, Cape Town, Jerusalem, and Calcutta. Has a polar and equatorial dial
for Baltimore time. Builder Peter Hamilton, 19th century Baltimore
stonecutter, became president of the company which supplied granite for
the Library of Congress building. Photo
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http://www.hopkinshospital.org/
Row 1: CLC_DSCF6325.JPG; CLC_DSCF6326.JPG
Row 2: CLC_DSCF6328.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
Baltimore #327 (Updated 05-04)
Location: Johns Hopkins Hospital
Remarks: Equatorial - 'One of three known to be made in this design.
Another dial of this design, once in front of the Physical Laboratory at
Northwestern University, was placed at a private residence in New
Hampshire in 1973. The dial is a partial cylinder held upright at the
proper angle by four ornate pillars. The gnomon is a wire stretched
between another pillar at the south edge and the mouth of an eagle mounted
on another pillar at the north edge. On the wire is a bead, the shadow of
which falls on the cylindrical plate. The latter has an analemma for each
daylight hour of standard time.' (G. McDowell) Photo
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Row 1: CLC_DSCF6424.JPG; CLC_DSCF6431.JPG
Row 2: CLC_DSCF6433.JPG; CLC_DSCF6436.JPG
Row 3: CLC_DSCF6437.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
Bowie #372 (Updated 05-04)
Location: Sacred Heart Chapel, 16501 Annapolis Road (Route 450), up the
road east of Sacred Heart Church
Reference: NASS Compendium, Vol. 5, No. 3 - Sept 1998
Remarks: A small vertical stone dial with a weathered wood gnomon is
mounted with iron brackets to the wall of Sacred Heart Chapel. The dial is
about 26 inches wide by 16 inches high. The inscribed longitude of 00° deg
20' min East is correct for the United States Prime Meridian which goes
approximately up 16th Street in Washington DC. In 1853 fire destroyed
everything but the walls of the chapel; it was reconstructed in 1858. The
present stone dial is reported to have been made by Francis J. Deutsch,
Sr, replacing and duplicating the original. Photo
Note: "From these five (5) photos it is obvious this dial is a fake [gnomon], made by someone who doesn't know much about sundials. Please compare these photos with the one provided by NASS." C.L. Chiu
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Row 1: CLC_DSCF2517.JPG; CLC_DSCF2519.JPG
Row 2: CLC_DSCF2521.JPG; CLC_DSCF2524.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
College Park #334 (Updated 05-04)
Location: Hampton National Historic Site
Remarks: A bronze horizontal dial made inscribed "1715". About 10 inches
in diameter with an ornately decorated dial plate. The dial is on a square
stone that sits atop a plane square cut stone pillar Badly worn
inscription is curved across the face of the dial under the gnomon, saying
"Time is more sacred than gold" Photo
Note: "The sundial in Hampton is not a good example of taking care of sundials by park officers. The dial consists of two dials, one on the top and the other one beneath it. The top one is a very cheap one. Its face is made with thin foil of copper and is screwed onto the one below it. The thickness of the gnomon is about half an inch. For that thickness, we expect there'll be two noon lines on the face plate. But when we look at the face, there is no noon line! The style height is 42 degrees, not 38 as it should be for Hampton. I think this dial is garden decoration dial. People can buy it for $20.00. The one below, with finer work, is the one mentioned in NASS. This one I believe was made in 1715. Obviously its gnomon was gone and now two holes for screws are added to its face." C.L. Chiu
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University of Maryland
Row 1: CLC_UMD1.JPG; CLC_UMD2.JPG
Row 2: CLC_UMD3.JPG; CLC_UMD4.JPG
Row 3: CLC_UMD5.JPG; CLC_UMD6.JPG
Row 4: CLC_UMD7.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
College Park #260 (Updated 05-04)
Location: University of MD Campus
Remarks: Horizontal in concrete and bronze. Very large horizontal, with
hour markers on raised circular slab. Metal disc with university seal in
center of pierced gnomon. Adjacent graph provided correction for both EoT
and mean/standard time differences. Relocated May 1991 to present site.
Photo Link
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St. Mary's College of Maryland
Row 1: CLC_DSCF6486.JPG; CLC_DSCF6487.JPG
Row 2: CLC_DSCF6490.JPG; CLC_DSCF6493.JPG
Row 3: CLC_DSCF6494.JPG; CLC_DSCF6497.JPG
Row 4: CLC_DSCF6502.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
St. Mary's City #374 (Updated 09-98)
Location: St. Mary's College. Near the Turner Sailing Center, just off
Route 5
Reference: NASS Compendium, Vol. 5 No. 3 - Sept 1998
Remarks: Stone cylinder dial with an inside radius of about 18 inches and
a concrete gnomon 5 inches thick. The hour is read on the top (summer)
face in Roman numerals from VII to XVII; the scale is offset for longitude
correction. The cylindrical inner face is a grid of quarter hours and
months, with an equation of time curve on every hour. 2 Photos
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All Saints Episcopal Church
Row 1: CLC_DSCF6452.JPG; CLC_DSCF6458.JPG
Row 2: CLC_DSCF6459.JPG; CLC_DSCF6469.JPG <-- side view, facing east
Row 3: CLC_DSCF6474.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
Sunderland #259 (Updated 05-04)
Location: All Saints Episcopal Church (Rt 4 & Rt 2, Calvert Co.)
Remarks: Horizontal in brass 11.5 inches in diameter with 7 inch gnomon.
The dial is intricately engraved and includes compass points and
gradations of the clock to four minutes. Made by "E. Nairne", a London
dial maker in the 1750's to 1800. "All St.s Parish Calvt County" is
engraved on the opposite side of the face. Photo
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Brookside Gardens & Nature Centers
NASS Sundial Register
Wheaton #503 (Updated 07-03)
Location: Brookside Botanical Gardens 1800 Glenallan Ave, near the butterfly house
Remarks: A 20 foot diameter horizontal dial in the middle of a brick patio. The gnomon is 10' long, 8' tall and 12" wide, made of thin metal painted a verdant green. The dial itself is a bed of flowers, even the hour lines are small plants. Arabic numerals from 6am to 6pm surround the dial on plaques. The flowers are changed seasonally for a gardener's delight. During the winter the gnomon is removed and the area used for a light show. Photo Link
Virginia
- Vertical Sundial, Old Town Alexandria, VA
- Walker Nature Education Center, Reston, VA (Northern VA)
- Freedom High School Memorial Sundial, Woodbridge, VA
- Sundials of Colonial Virginia, including Mary Washington House, Fredericksburg, VA
Row 1: Photo 1; Photo 2
NASS Sundial Register
Alexandria #253
Location: NW corner of King & Cameron St. Bank Building, S side
Remarks: Vertical. About 13' above street level. Declines 22 W.
Walker Nature Education Center
Row 1: CLC_DSCF6553.JPG; CLC_DSCF6555.JPG
Row 2: CLC_DSCF6559.JPG; CLC_DSCF6566.JPG
Row 3: CLC_DSCF6569.JPG
NASS Sundial Register
Reston #369 (Updated 12-99)
Location: At entrance to Vernon Walker Nature Education Center, 11450
Glade Center Drive, Reston, VA
Reference: NASS Compendium, Vol. 6, No. 4 - Dec 1999
Remarks: A modernistic horizontal dial . The design features a gnomon of
folded stainless steel plate. A seven foot diameter flagstone circle
provides the hour lines. 2 Photos
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Freedom High School, Prince William County Public Schools
NASS Sundial Register
Woodbridge #534 (Updated 03-05)
Location: Freedom High School, 15201 Neabsco Mills Road, Woodbridge VA
Remarks: 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. In memory of the citizens of Prince William Country and other Americans who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. 2 Photos
http://www.virginiadot.org/comtravel/maps-state.asp
- Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, Alexandria, VA (Fairfax County)
NASS Sundial Register
Mt. Vernon #167
Location: Mt. Vernon, center of courtyard, west front of house.
Remarks: The original dial is is kept in the house. It is badly worn and virtually illegible. This replica has an 8-pointed compass rose in the center, and Roman numerals from 5 AM to 7 PM. The hour intervals are graduated into two-minute increments, with arabic numerals 20-40-60 at appropriate places between the hour lines. Photo
http://www.sundials.org/registry/regphotos/167.htm
- Christ Church, Old Town Alexandria, VA: Photo 1; Photo 2
NASS Sundial Register
Alexandria #254
Location: Christ Church
Remarks: Horizontal circular bronze dial appears to have been designed for 32 degrees N.
Mary Washington House
Row 1: CLC_DSCF6521.JPG; CLC_DSCF6523.JPG <-- facing due west, farther away
Row 2: CLC_DSCF6525.JPG; CLC_DSCF6527.JPG
Row 3: CLC_DSCF6533.JPG <-- facing due west
NASS Sundial Register
Fredericksburg #193
Location: Garden of Mary Washington House
Remarks: Horizontal with brass gnomon. On very weathered stone pedestal.
Reported to be contemporary with Mary Ball Washington's occupancy of this
house in the 1780s.
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Reproduction of Jefferson's Spherical Sundial
http://www.monticello.org/gallery/innovations/sundial.html
Replica of Spherical Sundial Installed
http://www.monticello.org/press/newsletter/2002/sndl.pdf
NASS Sundial Register
Monticello #470 (Updated 03-02)
Location: Monticello - North Terrace [Charlottesville, VA]
Remarks: A replica of Jefferson's lost dial, which he recounted in 1817, "My dial captivates every body foreign as well as home-bred, as a handsome object & accurage measurer of time." Made according to Jefferson's design, the dial is a 10-1/2 inch sphere with horizontal lines drawn for the equator, tropic of cancer and capricorn. Longitudinal lines are drawn between the two tropics to indicate the hours of the day. A gnomon fixed to the poles swings around the globe until it casts the smallest meridian shadow. The base was originally a model of a capital, the top part of a column, that Latrobe had designed for the U.S. Capitol. It was unique, featuring ears of corn in motif. When Jefferson received the base from Latrove, "it looked bald for want of something to crown it" and so Jefferson designed a globe that "might be made to perform the functions of a dial."
Google Search: montpelier + "James Madison" + sundial
http://www.montpelier.org
Montpelier - the 2,700-acre estate of fourth U.S. President James Madison...
Montpelier Garden Tours (April 2003 press release)
Geocaching log: Montpelier garden sundial