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What Henge Days records while you use it, and why.

What is recorded

The addresses and place names you search for, where they resolved to, and whether a building outline was found. This is how search problems get found and fixed.
For a plan along a street: the street's name, the distance between the two ends, the day, and whether the street was found. The two addresses themselves are kept only as searches, as above.
Which features you use: outline loads, calendars computed, calendar files downloaded, walls selected, tabs opened.
When you press Share, the link that was copied. For the first page you open on each visit, the page's address and the name of the website you came from, such as google.com, without the rest of that site's address.
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For each building page viewed, the building's name, the center of its outline, its next head-on day and the dates of each wall's head-on windows in the next 12 months are kept for 60 days, so that a shared link to the page, or to one wall and date on it, shows them in its preview. For each street planned, the street's name, the coordinates of its two ends, the day, the count of walls that get the sun and the first three stops are kept the same way. Nothing about who viewed the page is kept with them.
A random id stored in your browser, so that one visit can be told apart from another. It is not linked to your name or email unless you give them in feedback.
Your browser type, the country your connection comes from, and the version of the site you were using.
Google Analytics, a service from Google, records which pages are viewed and standard visit information such as browser and country, under Google's terms. It receives the web address of each page, and the address of a building page contains the place you searched for. Henge Days does not send it your email address or anything else you type.
Anything you type into the feedback form, with the page and building you were looking at. Your email address is kept if you enter it, or if you are signed in. Each message is also emailed to the site's owner, and the owner is emailed when an account is created.

If you sign in

Your email address is stored with your account. Sign-in emails are sent by Supabase, the service that holds the account database.
The buildings and henge days you save are stored under your account, with the building outline, the wall they refer to, any note you add, and whether you marked a day as shot or missed.
If you open the calendar feed in the planner, a secret link is made for your account. Anyone who has the link can read your saved days. Each time a calendar app reads it, the time of the read is recorded. Get a new link from the planner to stop the old one.
Usage records and feedback made while signed in are linked to your account instead of only to the browser id. The owner can see which account a piece of feedback came from.
A reply from the owner to your feedback is stored with it and shown in the feedback dialog. The time you first open a reply is recorded, so the Feedback button can stop counting it as unread.
Signing out ends the link. To delete your account and everything under it, use the Feedback button and ask.

What is not recorded

Your IP address is not stored.
Your precise location is not requested. The map's locate button, if you use it, stays in your browser.
To show a cloud forecast, the coordinates of a wall and the time of its head-on minute are sent to Open-Meteo, the weather service. No account or browser id goes with them.
The address you enter in the newsletter form goes to Substack, the service that sends the Henge Days newsletter, under Substack's terms. Henge Days does not record it, and your account on Henge Days is not subscribed to the newsletter. Henge Days records that a form was sent, and whether you opened or closed the newsletter banner at the top of an article. Your browser keeps when you closed the banner, or that you subscribed, so the banner stays hidden.
No advertising, and nothing is sold or shared. Google Analytics, listed above, is the only service from another company that records visits.

How long it is kept

Usage records are kept for up to 12 months. Feedback is kept until it has been dealt with and for 12 months after that.

Questions

Use the Feedback button on any page.

Terms and accuracy

How the dates and times on Henge Days are made, what they leave out, and the terms for using them.

This page is written in plain words. It is not legal advice.

What the dates are

Every date and time on Henge Days is computed. Nobody has stood at a given building on a given date to check it.

The sun's position comes from the NOAA solar position algorithm, accurate to about a hundredth of a degree. Refraction, the bending of light near the horizon, is included. This is the most reliable part of the result.
Building outlines come from OpenStreetMap, a map drawn by volunteers. An outline can be missing, simplified, a few meters out of place, or rotated by a degree or two.
A one degree error in the direction a wall faces moves the head-on moment by about four minutes. It can move a henge window by several days.
Addresses are looked up with public geocoders: Nominatim, the US Census Bureau geocoder and Photon. A search can land on the wrong building or on a range of addresses. Henge Days shows a warning when a match is known to be approximate or shared.

What is not included

Terrain and the horizon. Sunrise and sunset here mean the sun crossing a flat horizon. Hills, other buildings and trees can block a low sun for minutes or for the whole event.
Weather. The cloud figures shown for the next ten days are forecasts from Open-Meteo for that minute. A forecast can be wrong on the day. Haze, fog and smoke are not shown.
Access to the place you would stand: closures, traffic, construction, private property and local rules.
Clock times use the time zone of the building's location from the IANA time zone database (the standard list of world time zones), with daylight saving time applied. Check the time zone if the building is near a time zone border.

No warranty

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Your responsibility

Check a location yourself before you rely on a date, travel to it, or plan a shoot around it. You are responsible for your own safety, for having the right to be where you stand, and for your own costs. Do not stand in a road to take a picture.

Liability

To the extent the law allows, the operator of Henge Days is not liable for any loss, injury, damage, expense or disappointment that arises from using the information on this site. This applies whether the information turns out to be accurate or not. It includes travel and booking costs and a missed sunrise or sunset.

Changes to the service

Henge Days can change, give different results, or stop at any time, without notice. Results for a building can change when its outline is edited in OpenStreetMap.

Map and address data

Building footprints are © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License (ODbL). Geocoding is by Nominatim, Photon and the US Census Bureau, and the basemap is by OpenFreeMap. Each of these services has its own terms.

Acceptable use

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Questions

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Articles · October 17, 2026

Map of the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts in Henge Days, north up, with its long west-southwest wall highlighted in pink and every wall labeled with its bearing. — The Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts on Rivers Street in Henge Days, entry 3 in the list. Pink marks the west wall that the evening sun lines up with on Family Weekend. North is up.

Appalachian State University Family Weekend, October 22 to 25, 2026: five buildings to photograph on campus and in downtown Boone

Appalachian State University Family Weekend, October 22 to 25, 2026: five walls on the Boone campus and at the east end of downtown Boone that line up with the low sun, when to be there between the weekend's events, and where to stand for the family picture.

For October 22 to 25, 2026.

Family Weekend at Appalachian State University runs from Thursday, October 22, to Sunday, October 25, 2026. This guide lists five walls on the campus and at the east end of downtown Boone that the low morning or evening sun lands on square this weekend, fitted around the weekend's schedule, with a spot for the family picture. Post yours with #HengeDays.

For a level horizon, the sun rises in Boone at 7:40 to 7:42 AM and sets at 6:41 to 6:38 PM, Thursday to Sunday, Eastern Daylight Time. Howard's Knob rises north of downtown, out of the sun's path this weekend. Ridges stand east and west of town, so all five walls are golden-day walls, with the sun 2 to 6 degrees up at their moment.

The weekend's schedule and the light

The events below are the ones App State's Fall Family Weekend 2026 calendar listed in search results on October 17, with the football time from App State Athletics. The university's own pages could not be opened from where this guide was written, so the list comes from those search summaries. Check times and places at families.appstate.edu/family-weekend and calendar.appstate.edu before you plan around them. All times are Eastern Daylight Time.

Thursday, October 22, morning: no Family Weekend event is listed. The three sunrise walls line up between 8:05 and 8:14 AM: First Baptist Church (entry 4), I.G. Greer Hall (entry 1) and the Appalachian Wesley Foundation (entry 5).
Thursday, October 22, 5:30 to 8:30 PM: Family Weekend Dinner at the dining halls.
Thursday, October 22, 7:00 PM: App State plays James Madison in football at Kidd Brewer Stadium, on ESPNU. Before it, the Schaefer Center at 6:14 PM (entry 3), about 450 m from the stadium, or Rankin Science West at 6:18 PM (entry 2).
Friday, October 23, 7:30 to 10:30 AM: Family Weekend Breakfast at several dining halls. I.G. Greer Hall lines up at 8:10 AM, near Central Dining Hall. Downtown, First Baptist Church lines up at 8:03 AM and the Wesley Foundation at 8:12 AM.
Friday, October 23, 10:30 AM to noon: Chancellor's Brunch Reception in the Grandview Ballroom of the North End Zone Facility.
Friday, October 23, 2:00 to 3:00 PM: Mountaineer Mock Class in Howard Street Hall, Room 103. Downtown is a short walk north of Howard Street Hall for the hours between the brunch and the class.
Friday, October 23, 6:00 to 8:00 PM: volleyball against Louisiana at the Holmes Convocation Center, a ticketed event.
Friday, October 23, 6:30 to 7:30 PM: S'mores on Sanford Mall, with free registration, weather permitting. Before it, Rankin Science West at 6:20 PM, about 250 m west of the mall, or the Schaefer Center at 6:15 PM.
Friday, October 23, 8:00 to 10:00 PM: Family Weekend Night at the Dark Sky Observatory.
Saturday, October 24, 8:00 AM to noon: the Watauga County Farmers' Market. Before it, I.G. Greer Hall at 8:08 AM or the Wesley Foundation at 8:10 AM.
Saturday, October 24, 9:30 to 10:30 AM: Family Weekend Breakfast at Central Dining Hall.
Saturday, October 24, 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM: Family Pickleball Tournament in the main gym of the Student Recreation Center.
Saturday, October 24, 2:00 to 3:00 PM and 3:30 to 4:30 PM: Family Bingo and then Family Trivia in the Grandfather Mountain Ballroom of the Plemmons Student Union. After them, the Schaefer Center at 6:17 PM, the family photo spot below, or Rankin Science West at 6:21 PM.
Sunday, October 25, 9:30 to 10:30 AM: Family Weekend Breakfast at Central Dining Hall, then lunch from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM. On Sunday every wall in the list has a building toward the sun as high as the sun or higher at its moment. I.G. Greer Hall at 8:06 AM comes closest.

Part 1: the Appalachian State campus

Three walls, in the order a day runs: one for the morning on Sanford Mall and two for the evening on Rivers Street, between the mall and the stadium.

1 I.G. Greer Hall

Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina

Wall: east-southeast, facing 108°
Sun: The low morning sun lines up with this wall on Oct 22 to 24. Best: Saturday, October 24 at 8:08 AM, 4.4° above the horizon.
Leaves: WataugaOnline's fall color report of October 14 described the maples in town as nearing peak (WataugaOnline.com). WUNC reported on September 28 that a warm September could delay the color across western North Carolina (WUNC).
Where to stand: The wall is the east side of the hall's east wing, 22 m long, and the short east end beyond it. Stand on the footpath east-southeast of the wing, on the Sanford Mall side of the hall, with the sun behind you. Stay off Academy Street, south of the hall. The sun lines up with the wall at 8:11 AM on Thursday, 8:10 AM on Friday and 8:08 AM on Saturday, 5.5, 5.0 and 4.4 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 2 to 6 degrees up. Watson-Brumit Hall, toward the sun, rises 3.9 degrees in the outlines; its height is an estimate. On Sunday at 8:06 AM the sun is level with that roofline. The inner wall of the west wing, also marked on the map, faces the east wing, which shades it. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position for a level horizon, and not checked on the ground. Boone sits between ridges, so the real sunrise comes later and the real sunset earlier than a level horizon gives, and a ridge can hold back the light at these times.
Clear view: Clear. No building in the map data rises above the sun (4.4° up) in its direction.

The hall on the south side of Sanford Mall, the lawn at the center of the campus. It was built in 1950 for the music and art departments, with an auditorium and a music library, and in 1966 it was named for Isaac Garfield Greer, who taught history and government at Appalachian from 1910 to 1932 (App State University Archives, NCpedia). Two wings reach north from the hall toward the mall. Central Dining Hall, where the weekend's breakfasts are served, is about 170 m west.

Map of I.G. Greer Hall in Henge Days, with the east-southeast wall highlighted and every wall labeled with its bearing — The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 108°, toward the sunrise on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.

Thu, Oct 22 to Mon, Nov 2, 202612 mornings · best Mon, Nov 2

6:51 AM Golden sunrise, sun 0° up ESE 108° wall

Its row in the Henge days list, with the time of the head-on moment on the best day. Save keeps that day in your planner, which can send it to your calendar app. Saving asks you to sign in with an email link; there is no password.

A year of head-on days for each wall of I.G. Greer Hall — The year for every wall of the building. Each row is a wall; the colored runs are its henge, golden and low-sun days.

Open this wall in Henge Days

2 Rankin Science West

Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina

Wall: west-southwest, facing 253°
Sun: The low evening sun lines up with this wall on Oct 22 to 24. Best: Saturday, October 24 at 6:21 PM, 2.8° above the horizon.
Leaves: WataugaOnline's fall color report of October 14 described the maples in town as nearing peak (WataugaOnline.com). WUNC reported on September 28 that a warm September could delay the color across western North Carolina (WUNC).
Where to stand: The wall is the long west side of the building, 51 m, facing Boone Creek and Rivers Street. Stand on the walk between the building and the creek, west-southwest of the wall, with the sun behind you. Stay off Rivers Street. The sun lines up with the wall at 6:18 PM on Thursday, 6:20 PM on Friday and 6:21 PM on Saturday, 3.9, 3.3 and 2.8 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 2 to 6 degrees up. A building toward the sun rises 2.6 degrees in the outlines; its height is an estimate. On Sunday at 6:23 PM the sun is 2.3 degrees up, below that roofline. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position for a level horizon, and not checked on the ground. Boone sits between ridges, so the real sunrise comes later and the real sunset earlier than a level horizon gives, and a ridge can hold back the light at these times.
Clear view: Clear. No building in the map data rises above the sun (2.8° up) in its direction.

One of the three buildings of the Rankin Science complex, with Rankin Science North and South, which hold the departments of biology, geography and planning, and geological and environmental sciences. The first Rankin Science Building was dedicated on October 26, 1963, for James Daniel Rankin, dean of the college until 1955, and an addition on its west side followed at the end of the decade (App State University Archives, the dedication). Sanford Mall is about 250 m east.

Map of Rankin Science West in Henge Days, with the west-southwest wall highlighted and every wall labeled with its bearing — The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 253°, toward the sunset on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.

Mon, Oct 19 to Thu, Oct 29, 202611 evenings · best Thu, Oct 29

6:30 PM Golden sunset, sun 0° up WSW 253° wall

Its row in the Henge days list, with the time of the head-on moment on the best day. Save keeps that day in your planner, which can send it to your calendar app. Saving asks you to sign in with an email link; there is no password.

A year of head-on days for each wall of Rankin Science West — The year for every wall of the building. Each row is a wall; the colored runs are its henge, golden and low-sun days.

Open this wall in Henge Days

3 Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts

Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina

Wall: west-southwest, facing 252°
Sun: The low evening sun lines up with this wall on Oct 22 to 24. Best: Saturday, October 24 at 6:17 PM, 3.6° above the horizon.
Leaves: WataugaOnline's fall color report of October 14 described the maples in town as nearing peak (WataugaOnline.com). WUNC reported on September 28 that a warm September could delay the color across western North Carolina (WUNC).
Where to stand: The wall is the long west side of the building, 75 m. Stand on the lawn west-southwest of the wall, with the sun behind you. The sun lines up with the wall at 6:14 PM on Thursday, 6:15 PM on Friday and 6:17 PM on Saturday, 4.7, 4.1 and 3.6 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 2 to 6 degrees up. Frank Hall, a residence hall toward the sun, rises 3.0 degrees in the outlines; its height is an estimate. On Sunday at 6:19 PM the sun is level with that roofline. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position for a level horizon, and not checked on the ground. Boone sits between ridges, so the real sunrise comes later and the real sunset earlier than a level horizon gives, and a ridge can hold back the light at these times.
Clear view: Clear. No building in the map data rises above the sun (3.6° up) in its direction.

The campus's main hall for concerts and touring shows, at 733 Rivers Street. It opened in 1974 as Farthing Auditorium, named for the Farthings, alumni of the Appalachian Training School (App State University Archives). A renovation paid for by a gift of $7 million from Bonnie and Jamie Schaefer reopened it as the Schaefer Center in July 2013, with about 1,660 seats (Schaefer Center). Kidd Brewer Stadium is about 450 m south.

Map of Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts in Henge Days, with the west-southwest wall highlighted and every wall labeled with its bearing — The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 252°, toward the sunset on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.

Tue, Oct 20 to Sat, Oct 31, 202612 evenings · best Sat, Oct 31

6:29 PM Golden sunset, sun 0° up WSW 252° wall

Its row in the Henge days list, with the time of the head-on moment on the best day. Save keeps that day in your planner, which can send it to your calendar app. Saving asks you to sign in with an email link; there is no password.

A year of head-on days for each wall of Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts — The year for every wall of the building. Each row is a wall; the colored runs are its henge, golden and low-sun days.

Open this wall in Henge Days

Family photo spot. Stand the family on the lawn a few steps out from the Schaefer Center's west wall, turned partway toward the camera. The photographer stands west-southwest of them, with the sun low behind and to one side, which lights faces and the wall behind them in the same warm light. Go on Thursday at 6:14 PM, before the walk to the stadium for the 7:00 PM kickoff, or on Saturday at 6:17 PM, after the afternoon at Plemmons. Post it with #HengeDays. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position for a level horizon, and not checked on the ground. The ridges west of town can take the sun before these times, so be there well ahead of them.

Part 2: downtown Boone

Downtown Boone is the few blocks of King Street north of the campus, about 300 m from Sanford Mall. First Baptist Church and the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts stand at its east end, near College Street. The Jones House, the Mast General Store and the Watauga County Courthouse are farther west, past Appalachian Street and Depot Street. The Dan'l Boone Inn restaurant is on Hardin Street, east of downtown. Between Friday's brunch reception and the mock class, or between the Saturday breakfast and the afternoon at Plemmons, downtown is where to walk and eat. The two walls below are at the east end of King Street.

4 First Baptist Church

Boone, North Carolina

Wall: east-southeast, facing 107°
Sun: The low morning sun lines up with this wall on Oct 22 to 23. Best: Friday, October 23 at 8:03 AM, 3.8° above the horizon.
Leaves: WataugaOnline's fall color report of October 14 described the maples in town as nearing peak (WataugaOnline.com). WUNC reported on September 28 that a warm September could delay the color across western North Carolina (WUNC).
Where to stand: The wall is the church's east side, 91 m in several sections, facing College Street. Stand on the walks between the church and College Street, east-southeast of the wall, with the sun behind you. Stay out of the street and off King Street. The sun lines up with the wall at 8:05 AM on Thursday and 8:03 AM on Friday, 4.3 and 3.8 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 2 to 6 degrees up. A building toward the sun rises 3.7 degrees in the outlines; its height is an estimate. On Saturday and Sunday the sun is below that roofline at its moment. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position for a level horizon, and not checked on the ground. Boone sits between ridges, so the real sunrise comes later and the real sunset earlier than a level horizon gives, and a ridge can hold back the light at these times.
Clear view: Clear. No building in the map data rises above the sun (3.8° up) in its direction.

A church on West King Street, where the campus meets downtown. It joined the Three Forks Baptist Association on September 1, 1871, and marked 150 years in Boone in 2021 (Watauga Democrat). The University Archives record that B. B. and D. D. Dougherty, the founders of the school, gave the land for the church built in 1911, and another lot in 1957 for an addition (App State University Archives).

Map of First Baptist Church in Henge Days, with the east-southeast wall highlighted and every wall labeled with its bearing — The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 107°, toward the sunrise on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.

Mon, Oct 19 to Fri, Oct 30, 202612 mornings · best Fri, Oct 30

7:50 AM Golden sunrise, sun 0° up ESE 107° wall

Its row in the Henge days list, with the time of the head-on moment on the best day. Save keeps that day in your planner, which can send it to your calendar app. Saving asks you to sign in with an email link; there is no password.

A year of head-on days for each wall of First Baptist Church — The year for every wall of the building. Each row is a wall; the colored runs are its henge, golden and low-sun days.

Open this wall in Henge Days

5 The Appalachian Wesley Foundation

Boone, North Carolina

Wall: east-southeast, facing 108°
Sun: The low morning sun lines up with this wall on Oct 22 to 24. Best: Saturday, October 24 at 8:10 AM, 4.8° above the horizon.
Leaves: WataugaOnline's fall color report of October 14 described the maples in town as nearing peak (WataugaOnline.com). WUNC reported on September 28 that a warm September could delay the color across western North Carolina (WUNC).
Where to stand: The wall is the building's east side, 24 m in three short sections. Stand on the walk east-southeast of the building, short of the drive, with the sun behind you. This is a private building, so stay on the walks. The sun lines up with the wall at 8:14 AM on Thursday, 8:12 AM on Friday and 8:10 AM on Saturday, 5.9, 5.4 and 4.8 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 2 to 6 degrees up. First Baptist Church, toward the sun, rises 4.4 degrees in the outlines; its height is an estimate. On Sunday at 8:08 AM the sun is below that roofline. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position for a level horizon, and not checked on the ground. Boone sits between ridges, so the real sunrise comes later and the real sunset earlier than a level horizon gives, and a ridge can hold back the light at these times.
Clear view: Clear. No building in the map data rises above the sun (4.8° up) in its direction.

The campus ministry of the United Methodist Church for App State and the Watauga campus of Caldwell Community College (Western North Carolina Conference). Its building stands beside the Turchin Center, between King Street and Locust Street, a block west of First Baptist Church. The Jones House and the Mast General Store are a few minutes' walk west along King Street.

Map of The Appalachian Wesley Foundation in Henge Days, with the east-southeast wall highlighted and every wall labeled with its bearing — The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 108°, toward the sunrise on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.

Thu, Oct 22 to Tue, Nov 3, 202613 mornings · best Tue, Nov 3

6:52 AM Golden sunrise, sun 0° up ESE 108° wall

Its row in the Henge days list, with the time of the head-on moment on the best day. Save keeps that day in your planner, which can send it to your calendar app. Saving asks you to sign in with an email link; there is no password.

A year of head-on days for each wall of The Appalachian Wesley Foundation — The year for every wall of the building. Each row is a wall; the colored runs are its henge, golden and low-sun days.

Open this wall in Henge Days

When the landmarks line up

The buildings a family asks about first do not face this weekend's low sun with a clear view. Their next days, from the same engine:

Watauga County Courthouse, 842 West King Street: the east-southeast wall, 60 m facing 122 degrees, gets golden morning light from November 30, 2026, to January 11, 2027.
Jones House, 604 West King Street: the east-southeast wall, facing 122 degrees, gets golden morning light from November 28, 2026, to January 13, 2027.
Mast General Store, 630 West King Street: the southeast wall, 45 m facing 125 degrees, gets golden morning light from December 17 to 26, 2026.
Dan'l Boone Inn, 130 Hardin Street: the east wall, 33 m facing 84 degrees, lines up with the sunrise at the horizon from March 31 to April 2, 2027, and again from September 10 to 12, 2027.
Plemmons Student Union: the east-southeast wall, 74 m facing 114 degrees, lines up with the sunrise at the horizon from November 15 to 19, 2026.
George M. Holmes Convocation Center: the west-southwest wall, 96 m facing 248 degrees, lines up with the sunset at the horizon from November 8 to 11, 2026.
Belk Library and Information Commons: the east-southeast wall, 49 m facing 103 degrees, lines up with the sunrise at the horizon from February 20 to 23, 2027. The west-northwest wall lines up with the sunset at the horizon from May 28 to June 6, 2027.
Kidd Brewer Stadium, Durham Park and the Yosef statue carry no building outline in the map data, so Henge Days has no wall for them.

How the list was made

Henge Days computed every named building within 300 to 400 meters of 11 points: Sanford Mall, Belk Library and the Plemmons Student Union, the Schaefer Center, Kidd Brewer Stadium, Stadium Drive, the Holmes Convocation Center and Durham Park, the west end of Rivers Street, King Street between Appalachian Street and Depot Street, the Watauga County Courthouse, Hardin Street and Howard Street. It used OpenStreetMap outlines. It kept walls where the sun lines up with the wall within 6 degrees of the horizon on at least one day from Thursday, October 22, to Sunday, October 25. It then traced the sun's path from each section of each wall, against every outline it had fetched, and dropped the sections where a neighboring building stands higher than the sun.

The check leaves five walls, fewer than this package's other guides. King Street runs at about 108 degrees, close to the bearing of this weekend's sunrise. So the downtown walls that face the sun are the east ends of the blocks, and nearly all stand in a neighbor's shade at that moment. The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts lines up, but its own east wing and First Baptist Church stand in the way. On the campus, Edwin Duncan Hall, Rankin Science North, Smith Wright Hall, Anne Belk Hall and the B.B. Dougherty Administration Building line up with the sunset behind taller neighbors. So do Belk Hall and Thunder Hill Hall, two residence halls. The other halls along Rivers Street and Stadium Drive have no wall the sun lines up with on these days. Rankin Science South, next to entry 2, has a 31 m section with a clear view at nearly the same times and is left out as a near copy of it. Two short walls with a clear view, at the chancellor's residence and a shop on Hardin Street, are left out as private or too short to photograph.

The walls that meet the sun at the horizon this weekend, at Grace Lutheran Church and a few apartments and shops near Hardin Street, have buildings in front of them at that moment, and the ridges east of town hide a sun that low. So all five picks are golden days, with the sun 2 to 6 degrees up, and each entry says so.

Hills and trees are not part of that check, and the times assume a level horizon. Boone lies in a valley, with ridges to the east and west, so the real sunrise comes later and the real sunset earlier than the times given, and on some days a ridge can take the light from a wall at its moment. Most neighboring buildings carry no height in OpenStreetMap; the check assumed about three stories for them, and each entry says so. Every date and time comes from the Henge Days engine for the wall's own bearing.

How to read each entry

Each entry shows the building as Henge Days shows it. The map marks the building's outline from OpenStreetMap, gives every wall its compass bearing, and highlights the wall that lines up with the sun. Below it are the wall's row from the building's Henge days list, with a Save button that keeps the best day in your planner, and a year of head-on days for every wall. The Clear view line is the result of the check for other buildings on the best day.

Any building has a page like the ones above, your student's hall included. Whatever you shoot, post it with #HengeDays:

Look up a building Open your planner

Sources

Features

What Henge Days does, part by part, with a live example for each. Everything runs from a building's real outline and the sun's computed position.

Henge days for any building

Type an address or a landmark. Henge Days finds the building's outline in OpenStreetMap, gives every wall a compass bearing, and works out when the sun's bearing matches it. The Henge days tab lists every window for the next 12 or 24 months in date order: henge days with the sun on the horizon, golden light under 6°, low sun under 15°. Filters pick the tiers and sunrise or sunset. Each row has the best day, the time, a calendar event and a Save button.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond · Flatiron Building, New York

Today

The Today tab shows the chosen day for the selected wall: a timeline of when the sun strikes it and how squarely, the head-on minute, and the week ahead. The day can be any day you choose. A cloud forecast from Open-Meteo sits beside each day within 10 days.

The museum today

Along a street

Two ends of one street, the street's name or route number, and a day. Henge Days stitches the street's OpenStreetMap ways into one path, keeps the walls within 60 m that face the road, and lists the ones the sun reaches that day in the order you pass them. Each stop has the distance from the first end, the side of the road, the time the sun is square to the wall or at its best angle, the tier, and the wall. The map draws the street and marks each lit wall. A plan covers up to 5 km of one street.

US 17 through Tappahannock, December 12 · Main Street, Mathews, October 24 · Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Richmond, November 17

Planner

Sign in with an email link to save buildings and days. The planner keeps an agenda of your saved days in date order, with a countdown, the cloud forecast, and a note for each. The shot card for a day gives a stand point 1.5 wall lengths back from the wall, links to open it in Apple Maps or Google Maps, an arrive-by time, and a Shot or Missed mark afterwards. The agenda also lists days coming up at your saved buildings that you have not saved yet.

Open the planner

Calendar feed and calendar files

Any row downloads a calendar event with the stand point in its location. The planner also offers a private calendar feed: subscribe once in Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook and every saved day appears and stays current. The feed link can be rotated at any time.

Henge pages

A set of pages, one per building or street, with every head-on date and time for the year ahead written out on the page, computed when the site is built. They are for reading, for search engines and for AI assistants, and each has a Markdown form and a JSON file. The buildings and streets on the site's examples are there to start.

Henge pages

The Share button copies a link to the building, the selected wall and the map view. Pasted into a message or a post, the link shows the building's name and its next henge day, or the wall and date of the row you selected.

A link to one row at the museum

Open data and accuracy

Building outlines come from OpenStreetMap. Addresses are looked up with Nominatim, Photon and the US Census Bureau geocoder. Sun positions come from the NOAA solar position algorithm, computed in your browser for every day in the range. Cloud forecasts come from Open-Meteo. None of the dates are checked on the ground: hills, trees, other buildings and weather are not included, so treat each one as a plan to confirm before you travel. Terms and accuracy has the detail.

The day the sun hits that wall head-on.

Light you can put in the calendar

Find a wall's days

Drive a street for the light

Plan the shot

Flatiron Building

Live right now

Three streets, live

Church Lane, Tappahannock, VA

Main Street, Mathews, VA

North Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Richmond, VA

What is a henge day?

How it works

Privacy

What is recorded

If you sign in

What is not recorded

How long it is kept

Questions

Terms and accuracy

What the dates are

What is not included

No warranty

Your responsibility

Liability

Changes to the service

Map and address data

Acceptable use

Questions

Admin Dashboard

Planner

Release notes

Appalachian State University Family Weekend, October 22 to 25, 2026: five buildings to photograph on campus and in downtown Boone

The weekend's schedule and the light

Part 1: the Appalachian State campus

1 I.G. Greer Hall

2 Rankin Science West

3 Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts

Part 2: downtown Boone

4 First Baptist Church

5 The Appalachian Wesley Foundation

When the landmarks line up

How the list was made

How to read each entry

Sources

Features

Henge days for any building

Today

Along a street

Planner

Calendar feed and calendar files

Henge pages

Share links

Open data and accuracy