Eastward orientations of 17^th–19^th century churches in the eastern United States: a record of religious symbolism and time

SUMMARY

The eastward orientations of 332 churches in the eastern United States (Georgia to Maine; 30.7°N to 44.5°N) have been measured to an accuracy of ± 0.2°. Most of those churches are listed on the U. S. National Register of Historic Places. Distinct clusters of eastward orientations among the churches have been identified and are interpreted as corresponding to the following: (a) sunrises on specific days of Christian significance, such as Annunciation Day, Ascension Day, and Easter; and (b) True East, as inferred either during sunrises on the Equinox or being perpendicular to the direction toward the North Star. About 30% of the churches have orientations that do not align with any sunrise and appear to have been built using other criteria (e.g., local topographic considerations). Using a combination of methods developed in this study, a narrow range of days (± 1–2 days) can determined for sunrises that are aligned with many churches. Those data allow the day and year to be inferred when the foundations of some churches were laid out. The orientations of graves in cemeteries adjacent to 246 of the churches were also measured.

Keywords:

• Churches
• sunrise
• orientations
• Equinox
• Easter

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author expresses his appreciation to the following individuals for their contributions during this investigation: Dr. Carl Lounsbury, Senior Architectural Historian with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation for sharing his extensive list of 17^th-18^th century churches; archaeologists at Jamestown Rediscovery, specifically Dr. James Horn, David Givens, Mary Anna Hartley, Michael Lavin, Chuck Durfor, and Sean Romo; Dr. Alain Outlaw at Archaeological and Cultural Solutions, Inc.; Dr. Matthew Laird at the James River Institute for Archaeology, Inc.; Dr. Hannah Matis at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA.; and Robin Axness and Fred Boelt at Hickory Neck Church in Toano, VA. The constructive and thoughtful comments provided by two anonymous reviewers on a previous version of this article are also gratefully acknowledged.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential competing interest was reported by the author.