I thought it was a preserved historical park. I remember seeing videos of the one hundredth anniversary and i remember seeing a large, open area with an obelisk marking the location the wright flyer took off.
CC
It is. Your memory is correct.
First toured the area in AUG 1977. Even then, the area surrounding Kill Devil Hills was fairly developed with housing. The National Park site was/is a large flat area bordered by the huge sand dunes of Kill Devil Hills. They had the 2 recreated shacks/hangars at that time. It was fun watching the touroids taking hang gliding lessons and crashing face first into the sand close by the National Park.
Had the great pleasure in 1995 of flying with a friend into the adjacent, uncontrolled, First Flight Airport. That was quite the buzz flying in past the Wright Brothers Memorial.
There is also a very well done museum at First Flight. Lots of tooling and hand made parts to be sen, as well as research notes, drawings, etc.
These were not just 2 “bicycle mechanics”, today they would be called design engineers. Cutting edge design for the day.
Although it is way off the beaten path, it is worth the trip, even easier if you fly your Cessna or Piper in and land at the co-located air strip.