Winter Solstice: Hundreds gather at Sacra Via for sunset

Hundreds gather at Sacra Via for sunset

Frost resident Greg Fox, right, takes a picture on his phone of the winter solstice sunset Thursday from atop the Quadranou mound in Marietta. The sunset on the longest night of the year aligns with the center of the nearby Sacra Via park and the Quadranou mound.

Photos by Evan Bevins Wesley Clarke, left, archaeologist at the Castle Historic House Museum, discusses the approaching sunset in the park at Sacra Via on Thursday, the winter solstice and longest evening of the year, during the Castle’s annual solstice watch event.

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Frost resident Greg Fox, right, takes a picture on his phone of the winter solstice sunset Thursday from atop the Quadranou mound in Marietta. The sunset on the longest night of the year aligns with the center of the nearby Sacra Via park and the Quadranou mound.

Photos by Evan Bevins Wesley Clarke, left, archaeologist at the Castle Historic House Museum, discusses the approaching sunset in the park at Sacra Via on Thursday, the winter solstice and longest evening of the year, during the Castle’s annual solstice watch event.

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Nearly 200 people gathered at the Sacra Via park in Marietta Thursday to witness the Winter solstice sunset.

The park and street are named Sacra Via after the earthworks attributed to the Hopewell culture in that area. The park is in between where two earthen walls once stood, and the sunset aligns with that spot on the winter solstice, when the Earth's northern hemisphere tilts the farthest from the sun.

Wesley Clarke, archaeologist at the Castle Historic House Museum, told people gathered at the park about the earthworks and their connection to the movement of the sun.

Although clouds obscured some of the view, many walked over to the Quadranou mound at nearby Warren and Third streets, the center of which also aligns with the solstice sunset.