Analemmatic Sundial at Biltmore Estate

During the summer and fall of 2007 we worked with Biltmore Estate to design and install an Analemmatic Sundial in their Kitchen Garden, located at the Riverbend Farm.

This project was a terrific collaborative piece between sundial designer, Mac Oglesby (yes, Alice io’s Dad), io design & illustration, inc. and Biltmore Estate staff. The placement of the dateline and hour markers was calculated for this specific site by Mac and plotted carefully on location by Hugh Munro.

Biltmore Estate staff, led by Kitchen Garden Manager Eli Herman, completed all ground work, installed the hour marker posts, created a wonderful stone path and installed beautiful plantings around the  sundial. A temporary dateline was installed to ensure the sundial was in use for fall festivities that year. After those concluded, a concrete pad was poured and Alice io spent many beautiful days on location applying concrete stain to embed a durable dateline with illustrations related to the seasons.

The images below give an overview of the process.

It was mentioned to us that this may have been the first project that involved every division of Biltmore’s grounds crew, from ground/soil preparation, the cutting of posts, stonework and plantings. It also should be noted that the numbers affixed to the posts were created by Biltmore’s blacksmith. Truly an excellent collaboration.

Throughout the year many school groups visit the sundial as part of the Outdoor Center’s tour of Riverbend Farm. If you are at Biltmore, we hope you’ll take the time to wander over to the Kitchen Garden and check it out. Stand on the dateline at that day and look toward your shadow, read the time by where your shadow falls in relation to the numbered posts.