Good mawrnin’, sunshine!

Now that Sunshine is up, let’s go see what time it is at AMERICA’S LARGEST SUNDIAL- 34 Easy St., Carefree, AZ.

In a town with a name like “Carefree,” naturally one is going to find street names such as Peaceful Place, Meander Way, Leisure Lane, Whileaway Road, Never Mind Trail, Bloody Basin Road…

… wait, what?

Moving on… therefore, it should not be a surprise that their trademark roadside attraction is on Easy Street. It does seem odd that anyone in a town called Carefree would care what time it is, though.

Nevertheless, the Carefree Sundial is in the middle of a small shopping district, stretches 62 feet, and points to the North Star.

In the mid 1940s, two men named Tom Darlington and K.T. Palmer were frustrated with what they viewed as bad policies in Scottsdale related to zoning and property rights, so they decided to start their own town. In 1959, Carefree became a reality. The name of the town and its streets were basically publicity driven, but it worked (I want to know which twisted mind came up with Bloody Basin Road). The town was built with the idea of keeping in harmony with the surrounding desert. 1959 also saw the installment of the sundial by John Yellot (a solar engineer) and Joe Wong (an architect) for K.T. Palmer.

And an added bonus: it tells the correct time!

Visit the town of Carefree and become carefree. If you really must know what time it is, though, there’s a big sundial.

Until next time, dahlings…