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What is recorded

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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.
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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.

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What is not included

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Map and address data

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Your buildings, with the map, the walls and the days you plan to be there.

Articles · October 17, 2026

Map of Greek Support in the Greek Village at Christopher Newport University in Henge Days, with its east-southeast wall highlighted in pink and every wall labeled with its bearing. — Greek Support, beside the Greek Village lawn and TowneBank Stadium, in Henge Days. Pink marks the wall the sun lines up with on Family Weekend mornings.

Christopher Newport University Family Weekend, October 23 to 25, 2026: one wall and a river sunset to photograph on campus and in Hilton Village

Christopher Newport University Family Weekend, October 23 to 25, 2026: the one campus wall the low sun lines up with, the sunset over the James River from Hilton Pier, the weekend's listed events, and where to stand for the family picture.

For October 23 to 25, 2026.

Family Weekend at Christopher Newport University runs from Friday, October 23, to Sunday, October 25, 2026. This weekend the sun rises at 104 degrees and sets at 256. Most of the campus and nearly all of Hilton Village are built on grids that face neither, so this guide is short. It has one campus wall in golden morning light, the sunset over the James River from Hilton Pier, and the dates the big buildings line up instead. Post your pictures with #HengeDays.

All times are Eastern Daylight Time. Sunrise is at 7:21 AM on Friday, 7:22 AM on Saturday and 7:23 AM on Sunday. Sunset is at 6:18 PM, 6:17 PM and 6:16 PM.

The weekend's schedule and the light

The University's pages did not open from the tools used for this article. The events below are the ones that search results quoted from the Family Weekend page and the athletics schedule on October 17. Those results gave no Sunday events and no times for most Friday sessions. Check the Family Weekend page before you plan around them.

Friday, October 23: the schedule lists a study abroad session on the Great Lawn, with the Freeman Center Fieldhouse as the rain location, and football ticket and tailgate pass pickup at the DSU Plaza. The search results gave no times for them.
Friday, October 23, 3 to 7 PM: in-person registration in Trible Plaza. Sunset is at 6:18 PM. The one campus wall that lines up with it, Rappahannock River Hall, stands in a neighbor's shade at that moment. For the sunset, drive to Hilton Pier (Part 2), about 4.5 kilometers southeast.
Saturday, October 24, 8 AM to noon: in-person registration in Trible Plaza. Before it, Greek Support (entry 1) at 7:49 AM, golden light, about 500 m west of the plaza.
Saturday, October 24, noon: football, Christopher Newport against Vermont State-Castleton at TowneBank Stadium, about 230 m from Greek Support. After the game, the afternoon is free for Hilton Village and the sunset from Hilton Pier at 6:17 PM.
Sunday, October 25: no events appeared in the search results. Greek Support lines up at 7:47 AM, and the sun sets over the river at 6:16 PM.

Nothing in this guide is a Family Weekend event, and every stand point is a lawn, a pier or a sidewalk. According to the Family Weekend FAQ, outdoor events can be canceled on short notice, and an updated schedule is handed out at registration.

Part 1: the campus

Most campus buildings, from Christopher Newport Hall and the Trible Library to the David Student Union, Pope Chapel and the residence halls along University Place, have walls facing 57, 147, 237 and 327 degrees. None of those lines up with this weekend's sunrise or sunset. One short wall at the Greek Village, on the west side of the campus by TowneBank Stadium, faces 108 degrees and gets golden light on all three mornings.

1 Greek Support

Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Virginia

Wall: east-southeast, facing 108°
Sun: The low morning sun lines up with this wall on Oct 23 to 25. Best: Sunday, October 25 at 7:47 AM, 4.0° above the horizon.
Leaves: Early color. A forecast updated October 15 puts most of Virginia at peak between October 22 and November 3, with the Blue Ridge first and the lowlands last (More Than Just Parks). Newport News is on the coastal plain, so expect green with the first yellows and reds.
Where to stand: Stand on the Greek Village lawn east-southeast of the wall, with the sun behind you. The sun lines up with the wall at 7:51 AM on Friday, 7:49 AM on Saturday and 7:47 AM on Sunday, 5.0, 4.5 and 4.0 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 2 to 6 degrees up. The wall is short, so frame it with the lawn and the houses around it. The Luter Hall addition, about 300 m toward the sun and listed as under construction in OpenStreetMap, rises 3.9 degrees in the outlines, which carry its height. The sun clears it by 1.1 degrees on Friday and 0.6 on Saturday, and by 0.1 on Sunday, so Saturday is the safer morning. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground.
Clear view: Clear. No building in the map data rises above the sun (4.0° up) in its direction.

A small University building at the west end of the Greek Village, the four houses for sororities and a fraternity that opened in August 2016 around a green space near the tennis courts (Christopher Newport University, SigEp Journal). OpenStreetMap names it Greek Support. The wall that lines up is its east end, 8 m long, facing the lawn. TowneBank Stadium is about 230 m to the southwest.

Map of Greek Support 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

6:33 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 Greek Support — 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 Greek Village lawn a few steps out from the east wall of Greek Support, turned partway toward the camera. The photographer stands east-southeast 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 Saturday at 7:49 AM, when the sun is 4.5 degrees up, 11 minutes before registration opens in Trible Plaza. Post it with #HengeDays. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground.

Part 2: Hilton Village

Hilton Village is about 4.5 kilometers southeast of the campus along Warwick Boulevard, a short drive. It was built from 1918 to 1921 for workers at the Newport News shipyard, to plans by Henry Vincent Hubbard with houses by the architect Francis Joannes, and it has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1969 (Wikipedia). Main Street runs southwest from Warwick Boulevard to the James River, with shops on the blocks near the boulevard. The Village Theatre, a movie house that Peninsula Community Theatre bought in 1994 and turned into a stage, is on Warwick Boulevard (Newport News Tourism).

Nearly every outline in the village faces 38, 128, 218 or 308 degrees. For the Village Theatre and Hilton Presbyterian Church, Henge Days lists no day of the year when the sunrise or sunset lines up with a wall. The picture in town is the river. Hilton Pier is at the foot of Main Street, behind Hilton Elementary School, and was first built in 1918 with the village (Wikipedia).

From the pier the sun sets over the James River at 6:18 PM on Friday, 6:17 PM on Saturday and 6:16 PM on Sunday, at 256 degrees, to the right of the pier's line. The James River Bridge is about 5 kilometers away to the south-southwest, well left of the sun. For a family picture with the light on faces, stand the family on the pier facing the sun and the photographer farther out, with the village shore behind them. Saturday after the game fits best. Walk Main Street in the afternoon and be at the pier by 6 PM. Computed from the sun's position, and not checked on the ground.

The Mariners' Museum and Park is about 1.2 kilometers south of the campus, between it and Hilton Village. The museum's east front, 244 m long, faces 102 degrees and lined up with the sunrise from October 16 to 19, a week before Family Weekend. On the weekend the sun rises 2 to 3 degrees to the right of that line, so the front is lit at a slight angle at sunrise. Its next head-on days are in the list at the end.

Walls that line up but stand in shade

Two walls on and next to the campus line up with this weekend's sunset at the horizon. Each has a neighbor in the way at that height, so the light reaches them later and from the side, or not at all.

Rappahannock River Hall: the residence hall on the north side of the campus. Its west wall, 97 m facing 254 degrees, lines up at 6:08 PM on Friday, 6:10 PM on Saturday and 6:11 PM on Sunday, 1.5, 1.0 and 0.5 degrees up. A small building about 50 m west of it rises 7.1 degrees toward the sun in the outlines. Its height is an estimate.
Chick-fil-A on Warwick Boulevard, north of the campus: the west wall, 13 m facing 255 degrees, lines up at 6:09 PM on Friday, 6:10 PM on Saturday and 6:12 PM on Sunday, 1.4, 0.9 and 0.4 degrees up. The longer shopping building west of it rises 6.4 degrees toward the sun in the outlines. Its height is an estimate.

When the big ones line up

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

Christopher Newport Hall: the west-southwest wall, 50 m facing 237 degrees, gets golden evening light from November 30, 2026, to January 11, 2027, lowest on December 18 at 4:26 PM, 3.6 degrees up. The sunset never reaches the horizon in line with it.
Paul and Rosemary Trible Library: the west-southwest wall, 83 m facing 237 degrees, gets golden evening light from November 29, 2026, to January 12, 2027.
David Student Union: the west-southwest wall, 62 m facing 237 degrees, gets golden evening light from December 2, 2026, to January 9, 2027.
Pope Chapel: the west-southwest wall, 29 m facing 238 degrees, gets golden evening light from November 26, 2026, to January 14, 2027, lowest on December 17 at 4:31 PM, 2.7 degrees up.
Luter Hall: the west-southwest wall, 139 m facing 237 degrees, gets golden evening light from November 29, 2026, to January 12, 2027.
Ferguson Center for the Arts: the east wall, 126 m facing 97 degrees, lines up with the sunrise at the horizon from March 4 to 6, 2027. The west wall, 108 m facing 277 degrees, lines up with the sunset at the horizon from April 4 to 6, 2027.
Freeman Sports and Convocation Center: the west wall, 115 m facing 265 degrees, lines up with the sunset at the horizon from March 10 to 12, 2027, and the east wall, 106 m facing 87 degrees, with the sunrise from March 27 to 29, 2027.
CNU Village, the student apartments with shops on Warwick Boulevard: the west-southwest wall, 116 m facing 248 degrees, gets golden evening light from October 29 to November 12, 2026, and the setting sun at the horizon from November 8 to 12.
The Mariners' Museum: the east front, 244 m facing 102 degrees, lines up with the sunrise at the horizon from February 23 to 25, 2027. The west front, 193 m facing 282 degrees, lines up with the sunset at the horizon from April 13 to 15, 2027.
The Village Theatre and Hilton Presbyterian Church in Hilton Village: no wall gets a head-on sunrise or sunset at any time of year. Their southeast walls, facing 128 degrees, get the morning sun square on in December, about 9 degrees up.
The statue of Captain Christopher Newport at the east edge of the campus is a statue, not an outline, so Henge Days has no wall for it.

How the list was made

Henge Days computed every named building within 300 to 500 meters of 12 points: the Great Lawn and Christopher Newport Hall, the David Student Union, the Ferguson Center, the Freeman Center and University Place, the west campus by TowneBank Stadium, Warwick Boulevard by the Captain Christopher Newport statue, the Mariners' Museum, and five points in Hilton Village from Warwick Boulevard to Hilton Pier. 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 Friday, October 23, to Sunday, October 25. It then traced the sun's path from each wall and dropped the walls where a neighboring building stands higher than the sun.

Three walls passed the first step and one passed the second. The campus and Hilton Village are laid out on grids turned about 57 and 38 degrees from north, and this weekend's sunrise and sunset fall between their walls. Greek Support is a golden-day wall, with the sun 2 to 6 degrees up, and its entry says so. In Hilton Village most outlines are houses without names. Four of the five points there reached only the 200 outlines nearest them, so the check covered the blocks around each point.

Hills and trees are not part of that check, and the times assume a level horizon. The land here is flat, and the sunset from Hilton Pier is over open water. Each entry names any building that rises toward the sun from in front of the wall. Where its outline carries no height, the check assumed one and the 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.

Any building has a page like the one 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

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Release notes

Christopher Newport University Family Weekend, October 23 to 25, 2026: one wall and a river sunset to photograph on campus and in Hilton Village

The weekend's schedule and the light

Part 1: the campus

1 Greek Support

Part 2: Hilton Village

Walls that line up but stand in shade

When the big ones 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