The Early American: Sunlight and Shadows

The 18th Century also saw a flourish of horological craftsmanship. Clockmakers and instrument-makers pushed for greater precision, improved design, and even portable timekeeping. A notable dynasty was the Thuret family of Paris — father and son who, between late 17th and early 18th centuries, held royal appointments and produced ornate clocks. Many of their works survive today as fine examples of marquetry, brass, and tortoiseshell artistry. Wikipedia

At the same time, sundials themselves saw refinements. Some 18th-century sundials incorporated tables or markings to convert “solar time” to “mean time” — adjusting for the fact that true solar time (based on the Sun’s position) varies slightly over the seasons. In other words: the sundial became more than a rustic instrument; it became a precision tool in its own right. Clocktime Digital Museum+2heald.nga.gov+2

Long before the ticking of gears, humans relied on the sun’s path to mark time. The simplest devices — known broadly as sundials — used a “gnomon” (a stick or pointer) to cast a shadow across a marked dial. As the sun moved across the sky, the shadow would shift, sweeping past hour-lines and revealing the hour of the day.

These methods date back thousands of years. The shadow clock, a precursor of the sundial, may have been used as early as ~3500 BCE in Egypt; by 1500 BCE, more refined sundials existed.

Through Greece and Rome — and later through the Islamic and medieval European worlds — sundials took many forms. Flat, hemispherical, vertical, horizontal, portable: their design took advantage of geometry, astronomy, and craftsmanship to tell solar time.

The 18th Century: Clocks Rise, But Sundials Persist

By the 18th Century, mechanical clocks and watches were increasingly common across Europe and the American colonies — yet sundials remained far from obsolete. Instead, the two technologies existed side by side, each fulfilling complementary roles. MDP, Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum+2eaae-astronomy.org+2

· Mechanical clocks offered freedom from reliance on daylight or weather — a huge advantage over sundials. As noted in historical surveys, “Clocks and watches begin to replace sundials” during the 18th Century. eaae-astronomy.org+1

· But early domestic clocks and watches often lacked accuracy. Many had only an hour hand, needed frequent winding, and could err by as much as a few hours in a day. John Wesley’s New Room+1

· Therefore, sundials remained important: they served as a reference standard for calibrating mechanical timepieces. People used sundials to “set them right,” often resetting clocks periodically by the true solar time. MDP, Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum+2Clocktime Digital Museum+2

One historian evocatively described this dual system: “A clock or watch may keep time, but only a sundial can find time.” Smithsonian Magazine

Precision Instruments, Scientific Zeal and Status Symbols

In colonial America and other parts of the British Empire, sundials, clocks, and watches gained symbolic as well as practical significance. Ownership signaled education, refinement, and connection to broader scientific and cultural trends of Enlightenment-era Europe. heald.nga.gov+1

Sundials, Clocks—and the Rhythm of Life

In the 18th Century, timekeeping shaped not just individual lives, but social and economic rhythms: work schedules, religious observances, travel, and commerce. As mechanical timekeepers grew more affordable and widespread, communities often synchronized around public clocks mounted in church towers or town halls — yet local sundials remained anchors to the earth and sky, especially in rural areas or private homes. This overlap of celestial and mechanical time points to a transitional era: one foot still rooted in the age-old cycles of sun and shadow, the other stepping into the precision and regularity of industrial modernity.

In some quarters, sundials began to fade as purely functional devices, yet they persisted as reminders of humanity’s ancient ties to the heavens, as scientific curiosities, and even as aesthetic ornaments. As mechanical clocks grew ever more reliable and standardization spread, the sundial became a bridge between tradition and progress.

Why This Matters — Echoes in American History

Given your interest in early American life, technology, and symbolism, sundials and clocks offer more than a footnote — they speak to how people perceived time, order, and progress. In colonial villages or frontier settlements, a sundial might have been the only available reference; in wealthier homes or town centers, a clock or pocket watch signaled status, modernity, and connection to European refinement.

Moreover, the continued use of sundials to set mechanical clocks illustrates an era before standardized time zones — when “noon” was not uniform across continents, but local, tied to the sun’s passage overhead. As America grew, expanded its infrastructure, and developed its identity, this gradual shift from solar to mechanical (and later standardized) time mirrors broader themes: innovation, adaptation, and the redefinition of everyday life.

Great — here is a polished newsletter-ready sidebar/spotlight you can insert directly into your chapter’s December edition or any future newsletter. It’s written in a vivid, reader-friendly style and aligns well with historical themes important to the SAR audience.

Spotlight: A Day in 1745 — Timekeeping in Colonial America

In the mid-18th Century, before railroads, telegraphs, or standardized time zones, Americans lived by a rhythm shaped by sunlight, shadows, and the steady tick of early clocks. Time was local, personal, and often slightly different from one farm or village to the next.

Morning: Marking the Day by the Sun

As dawn broke over a colonial homestead in 1745, the first “clock” a family relied on was the rising sun itself. Farmers watched the light stretch across the horizon, judging daybreak by experience rather than a precise minute.
If a household owned a sundial—mounted on a stump, stone pedestal, or the porch rail—someone might step outside to catch the position of the shadow. This gave the family a trustworthy reference for true solar time, the natural standard that mechanical clocks tried to imitate.

Midday: The Sundial as the Household Time Standard

Shortly before noon, the household or shopkeeper might check the sundial again. When the gnomon’s shadow lay directly on the noon line, families often used this moment to reset their clock or pocket watch, nudging the hand forward or back as needed.
Mechanical timekeepers were prized but imperfect—many wandered several minutes each day. The sundial kept them honest.

In many colonial towns, this ritual played out publicly. A neighbor might shout, “Twelve by the dial!” as the shadow aligned, signaling the community’s informal time standard.

Afternoon: The Clock’s Territory

As the day advanced, the clock came into its own. A tall-case clock in a well-to-do parlor or a simple brass movement on a mantle marked the passing hours with steady confidence—so long as it was wound.

Merchants timed their transactions, millers measured work hours, and travelers planned departures by the mechanical clock. For many families, the steady ticking indoors symbolized progress, order, and refinement.

Pocket watches, still expensive but increasingly available, added a new sense of personal independence. A gentleman heading to town might check his watch while riding—though he knew it needed adjusting by the sundial when he returned.

Evening: Time Slows with the Light

By dusk, the sundial fell silent. Only the clock continued speaking through the gathering dark, its slow ticking marking the final chores of the day.
Children might be sent to bed after “eight by the clock,” while adults wound the weights or spring one final time. Without artificial light, life moved more slowly, guided by the natural limits of the fading sun.

A World Balanced Between Shadow and Gear

This daily dance between solar time and clock time defined the 18th Century. Sundials tied people to the heavens—eternal, reliable, unchanging. Clocks represented human craft, ambition, and the Enlightenment’s hunger for precision.

Together, they shaped the tempo of colonial life, creating a world neither wholly ancient nor fully modern. It was a world still ruled by the sun yet beginning to tick in measured steps toward the future.