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THE STORY OF BUILDING THE U.MASS. SUNWHEEL
THE IDEA: Summer 1992
- INSPIRED by a Sunwheel at the Blacktail Ranch in Montana, former Blackfeet Indian territory
THE BEGINNING: 1992-93
- SELECTED empty field on campus
- OBSERVED sunrise and sunset on SOLSTICES and EQUINOXES
- used ROCKS for markers
- field was mowed & rock markers destroyed
- TIME TO START OVER
BEGINNING AGAIN: 1993-94
- SENT MEMO to the Dean requesting permission to use field
- AGAIN OBSERVED sunrise and sunset, used taller wooden markers
- memo was lost, field was mowed again
- TIME TO START OVER AGAIN
AND AGAIN: 1994-95
- TRIED to collaborate with landscape architects on campus
(they weren't interested)
- LEARNED proper University channels for permanent changes to campus
- SUBMITTED PROPOSAL for Sunwheel to Faculty Senate Committee for Physical Planning
- proposal was APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY on Oct. 17, 1995
- TIME TO RAISE MONEY
THE OBSERVATIONS: 1996
- SELECTED CENTER of Sunwheel
- OBSERVED sunrise and sunset on solstices and equinoxes
- DETERMINED true N, S, E, and W from the Sunwheel center using surveying equipment
(with help of colleague Steve Schneider)
- INSTALLED SIMPLE EXHIBIT
THE PRELIMINARY SUNWHEEL: 1997
- RECEIVED start-up funding with a Healey Foundation Grant from U.Mass.
- RECEIVED start-up funding from NASA
- PURCHASED 8 small boulders, each 2'-4' high, from the Goshen Stone quarry
- HIRED local excavating company to move the stones on site
- in 2 hours, the PRELIMINARY SUNWHEEL WAS COMPLETED !!
- TIME TO RAISE MONEY FOR BIG STONES
OUTREACH BEGINS: 1998
- OVER 300 K-12 students and teachers visit the Sunwheel
- 200 PEOPLE attend the PUBLIC GATHERINGS at sunrise and sunset on the solstices and equinoxes
- SURPRISE -- the Sunwheel provides a gathering spot for people to learn
basic astronomy and enjoy the sky together
NSF FUNDING ARRIVES: 1999
- National Science Foundation funded my proposal to add tall stones
to the Sunwheel
- 14 BEAUTIFUL STANDING STONES were located at the
Chester Granite Company in East Otis, MA
- Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty at U.Mass. began
MONITORING THE WATER LEVELS on site
- THE LARGEST GATHERING YET -- winter solstice sunset attracted 142 people to the Sunwheel!!
CONSTRUCTION: 2000
- for the story of ADDING THE BIG STONES, click here
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