SUNDIAL

A surveyor named Samuel Holland gave Dartmouth its first scientific instrument. The sundial stood on a post in front of the Wheelock mansion (where Reed Hall stands today) from 1773 until the 1850s, greeting every visitor to the College coming up from the river. Many of those visitors were likely setting their pocket watches to match the only precision dial in western New Hampshire. Richard Kremer, a professor of the history of science, considers the sundial “one of the central icons of natural philosophy at Dartmouth.” It’s on display at the Fairchild Center.