Wright Brothers National Memorial Landscape: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Wright Brothers National Memorial, National Park Service

Hitchcock, Susan

The Wright Brothers National Memorial is a 421-acre interpretive and commemorative site located in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, situated roughly between Kitty Hawk and Nags Head in a developed stretch of the Outer Banks. Administered by the National Park Service (NPS) as part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the site preserves the location of the first successful human attempt at heavier-than-air, controlled, powered flight. The designed landscape serves both to interpret this seminal event in aviation history and to memorialize the efforts of Orville and Wilbur Wright. An analysis of the landscape suggests that the period of significance spans 1900-1960. The Wright Brothers performed their early experiments at the site, culminating in the successful flight on December 17, 1903. Wright Brothers National Memorial achieves its primary significance for its association with that historic event (1900-1903). However, radical changes that occurred to the site as part of the Park Development Era (1928-1942) altered the historic setting. Further changes in the way the visitor was oriented to the commemorative site occurred during the period 1947-1960. The 1947 Master Plan and later refinements reflect the ongoing development and design at Wright Brothers National Memorial, culminating in the 1960 construction of the Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center. The historic condition of the site was characterized by shifting sand devoid of vegetation, punctuated by three large dunes and often experiencing strong and steady winds. A prevailing characteristic of the historic landscape was its dynamic nature in response to natural forces, a process that continues define the barrier islands. The Wrights chose the Outer Banks as the site of their experiments because of the favorable landscape conditions: broad expanses of soft sand, prevailing winds, and sparse vegetation. The high winds, storms, and salt spray limited the establishment of vegetation. Beginning in 1928, the topography and vegetation of the site were dramatically changed as Kill Devil Hill and West Hill were stabilized, planted with grasses and shrubs to slow dune migration. Construction of artificial barrier dunes between 1936-1940 reduced salt spray, sand movement, and storm overwash, altering the distribution and composition of vegetation at the site. No Wright-era structures remain on site. The Wright Brothers National Memorial has also achieved significance as an example of a designed commemorative landscape that has evolved over time. Early efforts to memorialize the site focused on the Wright Brothers Monument, the First Flight Marker, and the spatial relationship between the two. With the decision to build a museum/visitor center and landing strip in the early 1950s, emphasis shifted from the monument and marker to a larger interpretive program that included the reconstruction of the Wright Brothers’ camp buildings. Markers placed at the landing sites of the first powered flights (the first flight path) are an important later addition to the commemorative landscape. The landscape retains overall integrity of location, design, workmanship, feeling, and association. The Wright Brothers landscape includes several historic landscape features dating to Park Development Eras (1928-1960): the First Flight Marker, the Wright Monument and associated powerhouse, the circular monument road and curvilinear pedestrian paths, the original entrance gates, the open, grassed mall that delineates the first flight area, and the Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center. Although the setting of the Wright-era landscape has largely been lost, the open character remains intact. The landscape retains integrity of key features of its commemoration including spatial organization, structures, vegetation, and views and vistas.

Wright Brothers National Memorial Landscape: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Wright Brothers National Memorial, National Park Service

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