VACATION AND TRAVEL
Hand Gliding at Jockey’s Ridge State Park
in the city of Nags Head
Orville and Wilber Wright
Kill Devil Hill Monument
When I was there, I walked to the very top which had an outstanding view of the ocean and the immediate area. The visitor center at Wright Brothers National Memorial is the best place to start your visit to the national park. The visitor
center offers trip planning information, a park store, detailed hands-on exhibits that bring the invention of the Wright Brothers to life, and a video showing of Orville and Wilbur Wright. Not to miss, is the reproduction 1903 flyer in the Flight Room. There, you can see up-close what the flyer looked like and explore the workings of powered flight. The address there is 1000 North Croatan Highway in Kill Devil Hills. Admission is only $10.00 with guided tours available.
a full 12 seconds. These 12 seconds would prove to be revolutionary, and the first airplane had successfully taken flight, which was the first test flight of many there.
Anyway, a memorial stands atop Kill Devil Hill, the tallest dune in the area and the one from which the brothers launched most of their glider experiments. The dune stood about 100 feet tall, giving them enough altitude to practice the mechanics of flight with gliders before adding engines and propellors. The sand provided a relatively soft landing for more than 1,000 glider launches from Big Kill Devil Hill and smaller surrounding dunes.
Nearby is the Jockey's Ridge State Park, which is North Carolina’s most visited state park. This 426-acre park has the largest natural living dune on the East Coast. Two self-guided trails and nature programs are available year-round. Hang gliding, kite flying, hiking, visitor's center, small gift shop, museum, picnic facilities, and restrooms. This place is located south of the last attraction. The address there is 300 W. Carolista Drive in the city of Nags Head.
This next attraction is for nature lovers. The Nature Conservancy at Nags Head Woods Preserve at 701 West Ocean Acres Drive in Kill Devil Hills is south of the Wright Brother’s attraction. See towering oaks, hickories, and beech trees, some hundreds of years old, rise from the sand and create a canopy of trees. Over 100 species of birds have been documented