Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota

The sundial has been a way to measure time since the Egyptians developed them over 3,500 years ago. Historians even believe that the obelisks of ancient Egypt were used to measure time even earlier.

Two sundial monuments in the Lakewood Cemetery at Minneapolis, Minnesota, not only measure time, but also mark the graves of two different families. The sundial marks the passage of time and in funerary art symbolizes the passage of time. The white-marble Ludlum Family sundial above punctuates that point with the symbol of the winged hourglass—a symbol that denotes how quickly life passes by, how fleeting time is.

Inscribed on the Ludlum sundial is the message, “LIGHT FOLLOWS DARKNESS”.

Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota

The coral-colored granite Larson Family sundial, flanked by marble carved to emulate rays of sunlight has the following upbeat but accurate inscription (for a sundial cannot count time in darkness), “I COUNT NONE BUT SUNNY HOURS”.