
DATE: Saturday, June 14, 1997               TAG: 9706140280

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS                  LENGTH:   79 lines

TRIBUTE TO WRIGHT STUFF

Brighter searchlights will soon be shining on a more dazzling - and dryer - Wright Brothers memorial, with the first phase of the towering monument's restoration nearing completion.

And for the first time since World War II, the beacon at the top of the 61-foot-high structure will soon be working. The three-sided Fresnel lens - the same as those used in lighthouses - will revolve every 10 seconds. On a clear night, the light will be visible for up to six miles.

Workers have used scaffolding in the last month to clean the exterior granite with an environmentally safe chemical that removed 40 years of yellowish build-up. By Friday, most of the memorial gleamed silvery-gray. The cleaning is expected to be completed within days.

When refurbishing of the 65-year-old monument is completed in about two weeks, the grout between the stones will be replaced, drains will be cleared, and electrical wiring and fixtures will all be redone. The dome in the first-floor rotunda will be replaced, and the bronze reliefs on the front doors will be repaired and cleaned.

Most importantly, the entire building will be sealed from the elements, and an air-conditioning-ventilation system will be installed.

``Wind blew the rain right in there, in windows and under the door,'' said Connor Dempsey, marketing vice president for Watson Electrical Construction Co. of Wilson, which is supervising the project. ``That granite is soaked all the way through. It'll take a long, long time to dry it out - the water used to run down the wall.''

But visitors will still not be allowed to climb to the top platform because the winding metal stairway is too narrow to meet modern safety standards - and, architecturally, there's no flexibility.

``This is a historic structure,'' Dempsey said. ``You cannot alter a historic structure.''

Constructed to resemble pylons used as course markers in early airplane races, the monument is triangular, with huge symbolic wings carved on two sides. The structure sits atop a five-pointed star foundation. With Orville Wright as the guest of honor, the monument was dedicated on Nov. 19, 1932. The 4,500-ton monument cost $285,000 to build.

With the 100th anniversary of the historic Dec. 17, 1903, flight creeping up, the $250,000 restoration is the first tangible step toward the planned centennial celebrations. Funds for the project were raised by The First Flight Centennial Foundation, a nonprofit corporation set up by the state in 1995 to raise money for the renovation of the monument and other projects related to the anniversary.

Working in conjunction with the National Park Service and the state First Flight Centennial Commission, the foundation is in the process of raising funds for a new visitors center, scheduled to open by 2002. The $17.5-million project - which includes displays and upgrading of the parking areas and park grounds - will replace the current 7,500-square-foot center with a 17,000-square-foot design.

Dempsey said that in about two weeks, a crane will be used to lift the light and dome into place. After that, finishing work in the interior will be completed. Visitors will be allowed to enter the first floor, which will be the only one open to the public. Busts of the brothers, recast from the original molds, will be returned to niches in the first-floor walls where the originals once were. The first busts are believed to have been stolen, Dempsey said.

Along with new state-of-the-art 1,000-watt floodlights outside that were turned on last month, Dempsey said, the monument will benefit from advanced restoration and repair techniques.

``They are using better products that will stand up - this one will last a good, long while,'' he said. ``It's been a very interesting project, and we're very honored to be part of it.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

DREW C. WILSON photos/The Virginian-Pilot

Terry Davis, left, and Tony Edwards, both of Bunn, N.C., lower

scaffolding after patching mortar joints in the Wright Brothers

National Monument in Kill Devil Hills on Wednesday. The building,

which leaked badly before repairs were begun, will be sealed from

the elements, and an air-conditioning and ventilation system will be

installed.

The restoration of the Wright Brothers monument comes as the 100th

anniversary of the historic flight is approaching.