As Congress looks at going with a permanent daylight savings time, perhaps we should be looking at returning to sundials to regulate our times and time zones. Greenwich England, by definition is 0 degrees Longitude. Since there are 24 hours in a day, and 360 degrees in a circle, time zones amount to about 15 degrees.
Delaware, on the East Coast, is close to 75 degrees West – six hours behind Greenwich.
Eureka is close to 115 degrees West – solar noon is 20 minutes before noon Pacific time. A sundial will be a reasonably accurate timepiece for us.
I’ve been using battery operated clocks that are remotely regulated – I’m not OCD, but having three or four clocks that show different times annoy me. And power outages do a great job of putting the coffee, the microwave’ the stove and the wall clock on different times, or flashing for reset. I bought those items for my convenience – but you wouldn’t know it from those flashing messages.
In the sixteenth century, operative masons in Scotland made a habit of including sundials in their homes – probably it was a subtle way of showing their craft, and they aren’t particularly impressive. That’s probably because in the next couple of centuries, other Scots started adding their own sundials to gardens and front yards, and really came up with some awesome ones.
And I have no idea why it would be necessary to know the correct time in a cemetery.
But as I work on restoring the old Trego Service buildings, my thoughts wander toward a sundial – I know the longitude, if I set it in carefully folks will be able to take a moment and check for the exact time for another generation.
Or like this one, available online, and made from recycled aluminum:
And, after listening to the explosives of July 4th, perhaps Trego could use a noon gun – it couldn’t be any more annoying than Eureka’s curfew. Or could it?
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