THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 7, 1994 TAG: 9408040260
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
BEFORE THE Outer Banks became world famous for its beaches and Brew Thrus, it was better known as the birthplace of powered flight.
If you are looking for some plane ol' fun, consider spending an hour or two at the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Milepost 8 in Kill Devil Hills. It's off U.S. 158 and provides ample parking.
The park includes displays, reproductions and lectures on Wilbur and Orville Wright's famous flight Dec. 17, 1903.
``The only time to tell people to come where there isn't a crowd is during the winter months - October through February,'' said Nellie Perry, a park ranger here for the past eight years.
During peak tourist months, the visitor center accommodates up to 7,000 people daily, visitors like Juanita Nobles of St. Louis, Mo.
``I'm a schoolteacher, and I've always wanted to come here,'' she said while her daughter, Debbie DeGroot of Burlington, N.C., described exhibits to her four young children.
``She's a homeschool mother, and she wants to teach them about this place,'' Nobles said of her daughter.
Another teacher taking in the first flight sights was Audrey Rigsbee of Albemarle, N.C. She and her husband took pictures to show to her first-graders back in Stanly County.
``One thing that caught my eye that I'll be sure to relate was the fact that they made about 1,000 tries on the glider,'' Rigsbee said. ``Children nowadays get so frustrated after a couple of tries.''
Park officials suggest stopping first at the visitor center to learn the Wright Brothers story through exhibits and full-scale reproductions of the 1902 glider and 1903 flying machine. Half-hour lectures are given in the Flight Room at the top of each hour from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Some are led by Perry, a retired home extension agent in her 70s who begins each talk by emphatically telling the audience, ``No, no, I did not meet the Wright Brothers.''
But her husband's great-uncle, Israel Perry, did.
Through Sept. 5 there are special lectures. ``Anatomy of the Flyer,'' held at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, takes a closer look at just what made the first airplane fly. ``After 1903,'' at the same time on Mondays and Thursdays, fills folks in on what happened to the men following that first flight. At 2:30 p.m. on Tuesdays through Thursdays, ``Cleared for Take-Off'' discusses aviation then and now.
Another program that encourages visitors 13 and younger to pay close attention is the Flight Ranger Patch Program. Ask about it at the main desk, and a ranger will give you a three-page activity sheet to complete during the stay. Upon successful completion, youngsters receive a patch and card.
The visitor center also includes a gift shop full of children's activity books, aviation and nature books, posters, notecards, postcards and other souvenir items. Profits go toward U.S. Park Service programs.
Outside the center are replicas of the wooden buildings used by the Wright Brothers during the fall and winter of their famous mission.
The Wright Memorial Shaft - one of the Outer Banks' most famous landmarks - looms atop the 90-foot Kill Devil Hill dune.
The climb is steep at places but well worth the extra huffin' and puffin' to catch a panoramic view from sea to sound. You can rest for awhile on the base of the pylon, which rises 60 feet, before beginning the descent.
Admission is $2 a person or $4 per vehicle, paid upon leaving. Children under 17 and adults older than 61 are free. Bike racks are available for cyclists. MEMO: WHERE & WHEN
What: Wright Brothers National Memorial
Where: Milepost 8 on U.S. 158
When: Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily
To do: Visitor center has exhibits, reproductions and lectures, as
well as a gift shop, water fountains, restrooms, bike racks and ample
parking. Other attractions include reconstruction of a work camp and the
granite Wright Memorial Shaft atop Kill Devil Hill.
Admission: $2 per person, $4 a vehicle. Children under 17 and adults
older than 61 are free.
Phone: 441-7430, 441-6061.
Warnings: The granite pylon at the top of the Kill Devil Hill dune is
highly exposed to lightning during thunderstorms. Also, stay on the park
paths to comply with park regulations and avoid sand spurs and prickly
pear. Skateboards are prohibited. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
National Park Service interpreter George Menne tells visitors to the
Wright Brothers National Memorial about Wilbur and Orville Wright's
famous flight Dec. 17, 1903.
by CNB