Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Experience Where the First Powered Flight in History Occured

One of my favorite sites on the Outer Banks besides the beach is 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.

Finding the Memorial

The Memorial is directly off of Highway 158 on its western side (you can see the monument from the road) in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 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.

What's this Memorial all about?

This site was where the first successful powered flight was. The Wright Brothers built several different gliders and tested them for several years until the came upon the design for their powered glider, which took flight in 1903. The three flights that were made on a single day weren't all that impressive, but they ushered in an era of powered flight.

What am I going to see at the Memorial?

The main exhibit or "museum" like areas in the Memorial are the visitors center and the Centennial Pavilion. Both of these are host to several different exhibits on the life of the Wright Brothers, the history of the area and the history of powered flight. The visitor center focuses on the Wright Brothers, while the pavilion looks more at the history and science of flight in general.

For outdoor things to do, there are paved walkways that run around the memorial that let you visit several different locations. The first is the reconstruction of the living quarters and the hangar that the Wright Brothers used when they stayed in Kitty Hawk during their test flights.