Gifted to the town of Barnwell, South Carolina by a soldier from the town, the Barnwell Sundial is the only timekeeper of its kind in the entire country and has been keeping perfect standard time since before that was even a concept.
The sundial was installed outside the Barnwell courthouse in 1858 after being donated by Captain Joseph D. Allen who had a soft spot for unique monuments and wanted his town to have one. More elaborate than classical sundials, the clock uses a unique square shape with a chart of months and days. Amazingly the sundial has kept the correct time within two minutes of standard time for over 150 years. Even more astounding is that the global standard time was not actually established officially until 1884, making this odd monument even more prescient. Despite dating back to the 1800’s, the Barnwell sundial was truly ahead of its time.
This Historical Site Marker Reads, “
The oldest known device for the measurement of time, a sundial indicates time by the position of the shadow of a gnomon cast by the sun on the face of a dial marked in hours. The gnonon is a flat piece of metal in the center of the dial with its back pointing towards the north pole when in the northern hemisphere and facing due south and with the upper edge slanting at an angle equal to the latitude of the location of the sundial.
Obtained from Mr. D.B. Haselton, Ironmonger, of Charleston, S.C. this sundial was presented to the citizens of Barnwell in September 1858, by Joseph Duncan Allen (1812-1880) benefactor and philanthropist of Barnwell, who served in the Florida Seminole Indian War, Mexican War and Confederate Army, S.C. House of Representatives and S.C. Senate.
Atop the sundial, a cannonball rests which was used in the Confederate War.
Although the adjacent courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1865, the sundial survived and is in its original location. In 1918, a concrete curbing was added as a protection against traffic hazards. The sundial was repainted, additional concrete reinforcement was added at the base and after much research, this plaque was designed and installed on June 3, 1986.