Since Kitty Hawk is on the ocean, it opens up many opportunities for water activities. Beach combing and swimming are always popular because they do not require any special equipment. The Town of Kitty Hawk (townofkittyhawk.org) offers a public beach with access from several streets, including Balchen, Fonck and Wilkins. Parking, including some handicapped spots, is available at most street access points. Lifeguards are on duty from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily during the summer months at the Byrd and Eckner Streets access points and the Kitty Hawk Bath House. Other lifeguards patrol the beach by ATVs, the city says.
Other water activities along the Outer Banks include kayaking, surfing and fishing.
The Town of Kitty Hawk also has its own forest, the Kitty Hawk Woods, which offer almost 1,900 acres of marshes, forests and swamps in the center of town. A hike through the woods provides ample opportunity to see a variety of wildlife, such as deer, muskrat, birds and reptiles.
Hikers can also drive a few miles south to Nag's Head, where The Nature Conservancy (nature.org) oversees the Nag's Head Woods Ecological Preserve. The preserve covers almost 1,100 acres; hikers are asked to register at the outdoor information counter. The preserve, with its sand dunes, bogs and marshes is located at 701 W. Ocean Acres Drive in Kill Devil Hills.
Orville and Wilbur Wright were bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, when they decided to test a flying machine at Kitty Hawk. The first heavier-than-air flying machine took off on December 17, 1903, thus kicking off the modern area of aviation. The Wright Brothers National Memorial pays homage to their ingenuity at Mile Post 7.5 of U.S. Highway 158 in what is now known as Kill Devil Hills. The memorial, now administered by the National Park Service, includes the land where the plane took off as well as a replica of the plane and the engine block from that history-making plane.
Not too far away from Kitty Hawk is Roanoke Island, where 117 English settlers, sent to colonize the New World, mysteriously disappeared in 1587. The community stages an outdoors play, "The Lost Colony," at Fort Raleigh Historical Site during the summer months.
Also on Roanoke Island are the Elizabethan Gardens (elizabethangardens.org), which pay tribute to the island's lost colony. The Garden Club of North Carolina sponsors the garden, which includes a statue of Virginia Dare, the first child born in the colony.
