Thomas Jefferson's sun dial
N 38° 00.639 W 078° 27.151
17S E 723647 N 4210059
Located on Thomas Jefferson's home site
Waymark Code: WM1E5V
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 04/17/2007
Views: 137
Excerpt from the Sundial Register:
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."
Visit Instructions:
Only one log per location per person. You should log your own waymarked sundials as well.
GPS in photo optional.