Cave Creek & Carefree are adjacent to each other. They are located minutes from Scottsdale and Phoenix. The communities are known for there slightly cooler temperatures, quirky street names and extreme mountain home architecture.
Carefree was incorporated in 1985, but it's history dates back to the 1950s. Both the Sundial and the very first Carefree home were built in 1959. It is the 3rd largest in the Western Hemisphere. It has two functions. The first is oblivious to keep time and the other function is to help the heating of water used in the Darlington-Palmer Building.
Location: Center of town in Sundial Plaza
Remarks: A 90' diameter horizontal dial with a large reflecting pool beneath the gnomon. The hour markers are 4' diameter concrete circles. The dial is designed to show solar time corrected for the time zone offset. Thus the hour markers have been moved ahead of the solar time positions. A pilot dial (A 1/4'=1' scale model of the large dial) is at the South end of the large dial. It is constructed of gold-anodized aluminum with time lines at 10 minute intervals. An equation of time plaque is nearby. The upper surface of the dial formerly served as a solar water heater to provide hot water to the city's first office building. Numerals face outward, so that they are more easily read by viewers.
Courtesy of sundials.org
