The Wright Brothers Memorial Review

If you are on the Outer Banks, you should find some time to visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial. This site is showcases the location of the first powered flight and stands as a memorial to the Wright Brothers, who made it possible.

Located directly off off of Highway 158 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Memorial is very easy to find if you're in the Outer Banks. You will have to pay a $4 per person entry fee (as of 2009), but that gives you a week of access to the park and lets you visit all of the attractions in the park.

The site has four different major areas to visit. The main exhibit areas are the visitors center and the Centennial Pavilion. Both of these have different exhibits on the life of the Wright Brothers, the history of the area and the history of powered flight. In the outdoors you have two major areas to visit. The first is the living quarters, hangar and airfield where the first flight took place. Then from there you can walk to Big Kill Devil Hill where the actual memorial is located.

I've been to the Wright Brothers Memorial several times. I think I appreciated it more this time, especially since I spent several years working in the aviation field since the last time I was there. We found the the visitor center to be pretty basic. After the visitor center we headed out towards the living quarters and hangar. From there we walked over to airfield. That first flight was only 120 feet! After that, we walked from the airfield area over to the memorial on the hill. The walk took about a half an hour or so round trip.

I think our favorite part of the trip was just getting outside and walking around. It gives you a much better appreciation for what the Wright Brothers accomplished, plus the view from the top of Big Kill Devil Hill is great. The memorial sits on top of the hill and from here you can sit and take in views of the ocean to the east, the Outer Banks to the north and south and the bay to west. We probably spent about 2 hours at the memorial in total and I think it was time well spent.

My Take

I'd think that if you were in Kitty Hawk or anywhere on the Outer Banks, you really need to find the time to stop at the Wright Brothers National Memorial.