The Wright Brothers National Memorial

Tomorrow marks the 112th anniversary of the first successful airplane flight. Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, who ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, were the first in flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Today you can visit the site of the first flight at The Wright Brothers National Memorial.

The National Memorial, located in Kitty Hawk, contains a visitor center, a mock camp site like the brothers actually used, the memorial and a sculpture of the plane and the men at the first flight. The Visitors Center includes replicas of the 1902 glider and the 1903 flyer and you can stand at the site where the first flight took place. 

You can climb Big Kill Devil Hill to see the actual memorial and enjoy views of the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

There is a sculpted replica of the actual moment of flight. All characters, including the plane, that were there on that fateful day are in place - and you can climb all over it! Plus, you can put yourself in each spot of each person to see what it was like. By the way, that first flight lasted 59 seconds and went 852 feet. There were 5 attempts that day but one was memorialized by Wilbur Wright's camera as John Daniels tripped the shutter on take-off.

When you visit the National Memorial you can learn all about the experimentation, the process and the frustrations of four years of trying to take flight. They were far from home and family dealing with the weather living in tents and dealing with the elements.  It's a very interesting story and I learned so much! ( Did you know they didn't call if flying at first? They called it jumping) If you're near the Outer Banks, or have an interest in the history of flight then you'll want to visit The Wright Brothers National Memorial.

Did you know that both Ohio and North Carolina have had a feud over The Wright Brothers - Ohio, where the Wright Brothers were born,  claims it is "The Birthplace of Aviation" and North Carolina claims they are "First in Flight"? What do you think? Who should make that claim?

I'm linking up with: Travel Photo Thursday at Budget Travelers Sandbox, Weekend Travel Inspiration at Reflections En Route and Weekend Wanderlust at A Brit and A Southerner! Go check em out!