Dispatches From the Parks: Wright Brothers National Memorial
The final national park site on the Outer Banks that I visited is the site of one of the most monumental moments in human history. Wright Brothers National Memorial commemorates the site of the first successful powered flight in history by the Wright brothers. With an interestingly designed visitor center, a stunning commemorative tower and a very detailed layout of all of the major events of the Wright brothers work, the park does an incredible job of honoring this accomplishment.
My journey at the park started at the visitor center, which was one of the more interesting ones I’ve ever been to. The architecture of the building is some of the most unique I have ever seen and looks like it was just built today. In reality, the visitor center was built during the 60s as part of the National Park Service’s Mission 66 to improve visitor facilities. The inside is quite spacious (spacious enough to include a life-sized replica of the Wright brothers’ plane and multiple detailed exhibits). I spent about twenty minutes inside, but you could easily spend much more if you take your time looking through each exhibit or stick around for a ranger talk.
From there I continued to the storage facilities and flight path which are both a short walk away from the visitor center’s back entrance. The storage facilities were where the Wright brothers lived while trying to pull off the first powered flight during the years of 1901 through 1903 (the Wright brothers, who were from Ohio, only stayed here a few weeks per year), while the flight path honors the exact areas of the first four flights that they achieved here with their plane. The storage facilities offer a great view of the Memorial Tower and give you a good idea of just how big their plane was if you didn’t check out the replica in the visitor center. The flight path offers a fun chance to walk or run down the lengths of the first four flights. Signs on the walkway warn of cactuses on the ground, but when I was there the area was freshly mowed so I didn’t see any lying around.
The next place you should go on your journey at the Memorial is to Kill Devil Hill and the Memorial Tower which truly do tower over the surrounding area (mostly plains and beaches). While I would not consider the walk up the hill strenuous, I think it would cause most people to breathe a bit more heavily. The walk, though, is worth it as the tower is beautifully designed and you get one of the best views of the Outer Banks as you can see the ocean and a statue of the first flight on the backside of the Memorial. I was running out of time so instead of continuing onto the statue I turned back to the parking lot and started my long journey back home.
