Sundial
Barnwell South Carolina
The Sundial located next to the County courthouse is a distinguished landmark in Barnwell since its erection in 1858. A gift from Joseph Duncan Allen at the time a state senator and formerly a Captain in the Confederate Army.
The sundial was built using the position of the stars, sun, and moon. It faces directly south and on June 22nd, it is accurate within two minutes of eastern standard time. In other seasons, the variance may be as high as plus or minus sixteen minutes.
During my quest to check the accuracy of the dial there are a few things to keep in mind.
- It is set to read eastern standard time (not daylight savings)
- Depending on the date the minutes to accuracy may vary up to sixteen minutes
I used the closet date of February 12th for my test. Then I took a seat until the sun peeked out from behind a cloud and I could capture a strong shadow.
Barnwell South Carolina is a small city located 42 miles south of Augusta Georgia. If you are passing this way, the sundial is really interesting. We also walked around the park, looked in a few shops and had a delicious burger at Whitney’s.
Happy Travels, hop off the Interstate and find some historic treasures 🙂
What a great sun dial.