Taking Flight with the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

By Meg Brunson

Kitty Hawk is a city located on North Carolina's Outer Banks and it's the location where in 1903, the Wright Brothers first took flight. There are admission fees, but if you happen to have the America the Beautiful Passes (like we do!) this is a park that is covered in full! 

Within the visitor center, kids can request their Junior Ranger workbooks to guide their learning while visiting the National Park. The museum exhibits within the visitor center will introduce you to the Wright Brothers, a life-sized replica of the plane they used, a piece of the original wing, and a variety of other interactive displays that will introduce you to the science of flight and the history of this event!

We enjoyed the opportunity to join a Ranger-led tour. The tour guide provided a lot more information about the Wright Brothers and led us through the property to see the reconstructed camp buildings, where the brothers lived while they were working on making the first flight a reality, and the markers of the first four flights taken at Kitty Hawk!

A short walk (or it's also driveable) away you can walk up the hill where the brothers would launch their gliders to see the official Wright Brother's Monument - and at the bottom of the hill is a sculpture representation of the day that the first flight happened. The kids loved being able to climb on the sculpture and imagine what flying that plane would have been like. 

This was a favorite National Park for us - the stories and materials were interesting and there was a great kid-friendly area where everyone could make paper airplanes, color flight-related coloring plages, finish up their Junior Ranger workbooks, and take pictures with giant wooden cut-outs. Start planning your trip at https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm!

Read about some of the other adventures we're having on our Year-Long Road Trip!

© 2019 Meg Brunson

All opinions expressed are my own. See more on Instagram!

Meg is a mommy blogger, Facebook marketer, and much more. She is a mom to four kids who live full-time in an RV exploring the US! As a former Facebook employee, Meg remains a Facebook addict and handles KidsOutAndAbout.com's Social Media Marketing in addition to providing freelance services for other small businesses on how to best leverage Facebook as a part of their marketing strategy. Meg also hosts the FamilyPreneur Podcast, a podcast for parent entrepreneurs raising entrepreneurial children. Learn more about Meg at MegBrunson.com!