At First Glance, the Heatherton Folly Is Merely Two Adjoining Labyrinths, Each Involving

At first glance, the Heatherton Folly is merely two adjoining labyrinths, each involving one goal – either the Equinox Spire or the Solstice Spire – reachedby following a single path. Because the labyrinths partially overlap, they create a maze. Now there are multiple solutions to reach the goals. But the Heatherton Folly still involves much more.

The largest maze, centered by the Equinox Spire, is circled by large rocks. When the Spire’s shadow points to the first white stone, the Greenwich Stone, it is noon in Greenwich and 7 a.m. SDT in Roswell. As the sun advances across the sky, the shadow points to a black rock every hour, reaching the second white stone – the Noon Stone – at 12 p.m. SDT in Roswell. Each successive black rock marks the passage of another hour. Thus the Heatherton Folly is also a sundial.

The goal of the smaller maze is the Solstice Spire. A black rock is set in the maze due north of this Spire. During the Winter Solstice, the shadow reaches the center of the rock as the sun reaches its apex. During the Summer Solstice, the shadow strikes a mark on the Spire base, casting its shortest shadow of the year. And at sunrise and sunset of the equinoxes, the Equinox Spire casts a shadow striking two black rocks just outside the large maze. In this way, the Heatherton Folly marks the passage of the seasons.

At the Equinox Spire, a third white stone – the North Stone – isaligned due north. Five and a half spaces separate the Greenwich Stone and the North Stone. Since the sun travels through 15 degrees each hour, the angular measurement between those stones is 83 degrees. At the Solstice Spire, the maximum angle cast by the shadow is 57 degrees, and the minimum angle is 11 degrees. The resulting average is 34 degrees. With these measurements, the Heatherton Folly marks its position on the surface of the earth – 83 degrees longitude and 34 degrees latitude. One half of the difference between the maximum and minimum angles struck by the Solstice Spire is 23 degrees – equivalent to the tilt of the earth’s rotational axis relative to its orbital plane around the sun.

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The Heatherton Folly is a community park, a labyrinth and a maze all in one. Plus, it can track the time like a sundial, measure the passage of the seasons according to shadow points, and even mark its position on the earth – 83 degrees longitude and 34 degrees latitude.

Outlined with carefully aligned stones and centered by two monuments – the Solstice Spire and the Equinox Spire – the Heatherton Folly is a civil engineering feat. Its presence in Heatherton is much like the community itself – out of the ordinary, interesting, a little bit dressy and a lot of casual fun.