18. The 'World's Greatest' Sundial
Site Coordinates: N 40˚33'44.8" W 89˚37'50.8"
This is one of 10 caches (a hidden container) placed around historic sites in Pekin. These sites along with 10 other sites will provide letters or numbers you'll need to ultimately unscramble a prominent name and year in Pekin's history. Once you've obtained all 20 letters and numbers and unscrambled the name and year, submit your answer to be entered into a drawing for a locally 3-D printed "flat" Everett, $50 in Chamber Checks and other Pekin swag!
Please be courteous and aware of your surroundings (do not disrupt landscaping or destroy anything during your search) and place each cache back how you found it to ensure it remains hidden. All caches are on public property, placed with permission where necessary. Permission for this cache placement granted by Pekin Park District. Please be courteous and respectful and do not disrupt the landscaping! Please be stealthy.
Practice CITO (cache-in-trash-out: a way to help keep our environment clean) & happy caching! We hope you enjoy this historic tour of Pekin & participate in other events throughout 2024 to celebrate this milestone.
A special thank you to the United Way of Pekin for sponsoring the cache containers.
If you have any questions, please email us at pekinhistoricadventurequest@gmail.com.
A Bit of History...
The ‘World’s Greatest’ Sundial, The Pekin Sundial, Mineral Springs Park, Illinois
In the scenic and beautiful location of the sunken gardens of Mineral Springs Park Illinois stands the Pekin Sundial. Though not the largest or tallest, at six feet high the Pekin sundial is claimed by locals to be the “most accurate” sundial, and as such declared as the World’s greatest.
This unique and modern sculpture built in the early 1990s of burnished steel, creates a complex set of three sundials. This allows the design to provide more information than just the hours before or after noon at the highest point of the sun, but also dates and sun position.
If you are lucky to visit the dial near noon it also conveys small stakes to indicate the solstices and equinox. This is achieved through the design of the sculpture – a thin upright triangle at the base of the main sundial is split through its middle, to cast a narrow beam of light at the noon mark.
