An English Girl Rambles from 2016 to ....: Wright Brothers' Memorial_Kill Devil Hills

Corolla, North Carolina Trip - Fifth Day - Part 2

Sunrise
Wright Brothers' Memorial
Lost Colony

Tuesday, September 5th, 2017

After enjoying the spectacular sunrise, we were out of the house two hours later and stopped for our breakfast/early lunch. We always enjoy finding a good breakfast restaurant when traveling, and usually look for a local place on Yelp, but as we were driving by we saw "Stack 'Em High Pancakes and So Forth".

I had pancakes, one egg and 2 sausages with a small dish of strawberries. Gregg had toast, eggs, sausage patties and hash browns.

You ordered your food and paid at the counter before you sat down. We enjoyed it, a fun and friendly place.

We were curious about The Lost Colony and had that in mind for this afternoon, but as it was on the way we stopped at the

Wright Brothers' Memorial. We only did half of the site, concentrating on the monument at the top of the hill. It is quite a large area so if you are ever decide to visit, I suggest carrying your own water, and wearing a pair of very comortable walking shoes.

These old photos are from Pixababy.

The last time we were here was 30 years' ago with my parents. They were visiting from England, and we had been staying with Gregg's parents who lived in Virginia Beach. Virginia Beach is only a couple of hours away, and is north of Corolla, as you can see by looking at the map below. It wouldn't take long as the crow flies but you can't drive down that strip of land, having to take a route further inland. Corolla is marked with the red icon.

This gives you an idea where Corolla is on the US map.

Their regular, much larger visitor center is being renovated. It will be closed to the public until the late summer/early fall of next year. The temporary one did a good job for the space they had.

It was a very hot day, and muggy. I was prepared with my sunhat and sunglasses, but I had not taken any drinking water as I usually do. We have been relying on the visitor centers to get our cold, refrigerated water, but there was no refrigerator here. However, room temperature water was better than nothing.

I did see at least one drinking fountain at the bottom of the hill near the large memorial. There were probably more but this was the only one I noticed. Before I beat this subject into the ground, my advice would be, don't forget to take water with you. I read on Yelp from one person, that the center didn't have any water when they were there, and it may have been that they had run out.

A few photos taken around the center. The posters above were on sale.

The Wright Brothers

Orville was the youngest and described as a "practical joker, impulsive, enthusiastic, educated, introverted, optimistic and inventive". Wilber, his older brother, was "steady, educated, focused, out-going, controlled, confident, a care taker".

It was interesting to read that the brothers got their interest for machines from their mother, who also passed on her knowledge and curiosity to her sons. Their father was a Bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, traveled far and wide, and would bring gifts home like Alphonse Penaud's toy helicopter. These snippets I read on one of the posters. You can learn more of the brothers here. Below, from the same poster, are a few of the things that inspired them.

One thing of note is that Charlie Taylor built their engines. You can read his story here. Charlie should not be forgotten in the brothers' story, as I feel he was an integral part of it.

This is the information marker located at the bottom of the hill, which we read before we made the climb. Information reads:

"Friends and Surfmen from the nearby US Life-Saving Station helped the brothers carry their gliders up the dunes."

"Big Kill Devil Hill - When the Wright brothers were here, Big Kill Devil Hill - the hill in front of you - was a massive sand dune. Thousands of times the brothers trekked up the three nearby dunes to conduct glider experiments.

Climbing the hill was strenuous. Deep, soft sand caused every step up the slope to slip part way back down. The Wrights were also burdoned with carrying their heavy gliders up the hill for each flight. Their tireless efforts paid off as they mastered their flying skills and refined their flight controls."

Underneath the photo at the bottom of the marker next to the writing reads,

"The Wrights mastered flight controls with their 1902 Glider."

Underneath the next photo,

"Starting in 1929, workers planted grass to stabilize Big Kill Devil Hill so that the Wright Brothers Monument could be built on top."

(If you would like to see a larger view of all photos to get a better look, you can click and enlarge.)

From the Visitor Center there is a road you can drive along, and park closer to the monument.

We walked up a very steep hill to the actual memorial.

We met a couple with a dog who were talking to two Australians. Gregg initiated a conversation with one as he was wearing a shirt with the name of his old Royal Navy Captain. This is going back to when he was on an exchange tour with the Royal Navy, when he and I met in my home town. An unusual name but no connection. It was to do with a 200 mile endurance race in Australia, so we learned something new that day.

The two of them were visiting all the well known race car tracks over here. They were a lot of fun to talk to, interesting and super friendly. After a while we said goodbye to our Oz friends and wished them happy traveling.

The other couple they had been talking to were American and they had a sweet natured dog called Roxie. She was having a hard time with the heat and we offered her some of our water. Roxie's Dad cupped his hands so I could pour her a good drink, and she lapped it up. She had two full 'cups' of water before they left for the walk down. They left their water in their car, thinking they would not need it for such a short hike. Well, I've been there before! Yes, I am still beating that big old drum. Always remember your water no matter how short the walk. FYI, for younger people it may be a short hike, but for us it wasn't that short and it was all up hill!