Kitty Hawk and a Lighthouse
Kitty Hawk Museum Center
Ever since reading The Wright Brothers by David McCullough six years ago, I’ve been drawn to visit Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The book goes through the early years of the brothers and explores the events that led up to their travels to Kitty Hawk. Kitty Hawk provided mainly three things for the inventors of the first successful flight of a self propelled flying machine; a steady breeze, a soft landing (sand), and seclusion from the public eye. The Kitty Hawk National Memorial is run by the National Parks Service.
The museum at Kitty Hawk provides an overview of the same information that McCullough covered in his book and adds the visual aspect with a replica of the plane that actually flew. The Wright Brothers were a culmination of everything that was needed at the moment for flight to take flight. They had been raised to be inquisitive, understood mathematics and science, had the finances to experiment, already had a business that in hind sight was oddly related, and possessed the drive to succeed.
The following photos are of the exact replica in the museum. You can look out the side windows, and see the actual location where the original took off over 100 years ago. The actual plane has been refurbished and hangs in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
The Park Service has reconstructed the two building that the brothers had on site where they lived, worked and stored equipment they used. In addition, the museum explored some of the theory at the time about flying and the science the brothers developed to allow them to expand on what was known about lift. The Wright Brothers built on the knowledge of others that went before them. The German, Otto Lilienthal, probably contributed the most to their understanding of flight.
The memorial also brought to light the amount of help the locals on Kitty Hawk provided during the experimentation phases. The locals helped with carrying gliders up a very steep hill, took photos, constructed buildings, provided food, etc.
I walked the fairly steep hill where a monument to the brothers was erected on the 25th anniversary of flight. They literally carried various gliders up this hill thousands of times. I heard a younger woman say, “I didn’t understand why they built a moment to these guys and then I read how many times they carried those gliders up here.”
Taking Flight
On December 17, 1903, they made their first successful flights. There were four back-to-back flights of 12, 12, 15, and 59 seconds. They had flipped a coin to decide who would try the first flight. Orval won the toss. They took turns flying, learned from each flight, and extended the distance each time. Markers are in place where each trial took off and the approximate location where the plane came down. The final flight that day, caused damage to the engine, ending flights that day.
I walked the length of the original flight path and near the second marker, a flock of birds flew by. A few steps later, a plane took off from the runway on the monument grounds. I looked up and noticed a jet flying high in the sky. It was all so poetic in the moment. As I walked, I reflected on how discovering how to fly shifted how we think about so many things. Flight for man had been thought to be impossible for millennia and suddenly it was possible. It begged the question, “What else is possible?” And here I stood in this place where a shift in thinking became possible.
The museum has a smallish souvenir shop, with books, bags, models, and other things. For my trip, I purchased a sticker for the car. I had spent over four hours at the memorial and it was time for a coffee.
Coffee Time
I found The Front Porch Cafe in Kill Devil Hills, NC. The porch is more like outdoor seating with a raised platform and a fence. The inside was really vibrant, the staff helpful and friendly, and the coffee was good. They also had fresh pastries and I ordered a cinnamon role. The role was delicious but a bit too much sugar at that moment. There were handcrafts, tea, coffee beans, T-shirts, and novelties for sale as well.
I’ve found that many local coffee shops don’t have wifi but that was not the case here. The wifi signal and throughput were great. So, I hung out, drank coffee and surfed for a while.
I left around 3:30pm to go photograph a lighthouse at sunset.
Bodie Island Light Station
The Bodie Island Light Station is operated by the National Park Service. I was there to photograph the lighthouse, but there are also tours of the lighthouse. I was too late for the tours. I saw a lot of people walking / hiking the Bodie Island Boardwalk trail which looked like fun.
I parked the car on the loop to the west of the light house and setup the camera with a tripod. I was there for almost two hours watching the sun change the color and texture of the lighthouse. It was interesting to watch the light turn light blue, yellow, orange, blue and grey in that time period.
People stopped to chat on their walk around the loop. One woman, a gemologist, gave me a lot of tips on what to see out west and I took notes.
