1903 Workshop/Living Quarters

Octave Chanute, Orville Wright, and Edward C. Huffaker seated at left and Wilbur Wright standing.

Library Of Congress

Quick Facts

Location:

Kill Devil Hills, NC

Significance:

Historic Reconstruction

Amenities

3 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Scenic View/Photo Spot, Wheelchair Accessible

Wilbur and Orville constructed their workshop at this location in 1901. They consistently made improvements to it each season they returned. In 1902, they added 10 feet of space to the workshop to use as living quarters, as the past visits to Kitty Hawk had proven tent living as unsustainable.

The workshop and living quarters were abandoned by the brothers after 1911, allowing nature to destroy the structures.

Living on the Outer Banks

When the Wright brothers arrived here in September 1900, the Outer Banks were very different from today. There were no bridges connecting the Outer Banks to the mainland and Kitty Hawk was a remote, self-sustaining fishing village with few residents and even fewer structures.

The Kitty Hawk Life-Saving Station and the US Weather Bureau station were four miles apart, with nothing but desolate sand dunes between them. Despite this isolation, the few friends that the brothers did make here proved invaluable, as the members of the life-saving service often assisted the Wrights in their flying experiments.

As Wibur wrote in November, 1900:

In October my brother and myself spent a vacation of several weeks at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, experimenting with a soaring machine. We located on the bar which separates Albemarle Sound from the ocean. South of Kitty Hawk the bar is absolutely bare of vegetation and flat as a floor, from sound to ocean, for a distance of nearly five miles, except a sand hill one hundred and five ft. high which rises almost in its center. The main slope of the hill is to the northeast, which is facing the prevailing winds...To the north, northeast, east, and southeast there is nothing but flat plain and ocean for a thousand miles nearly. It is an ideal place for gliding experiments except for its inaccessibility. The person who goes there must take everything he will possibly need, for he cannot depend on getting any needed article from the outside world in less than three weeks.

Camp Life

Trying to camp down here reminds me of those poor arctic explorers. We are living nearly the whole time on reduced rations. Once in a while we get a mess of fish, and if our stuff comes about the same time from Elizabeth City - which stuff consists of canned tomatoes, peaches, condensed milk, flour, bacon & butter- we have a big blowout...But it only lasts a day...

   - Orville Wright, October 18, 1900

When the brothers first arrived at Kitty Hawk in 1900, they lived in rudimentary tents that often blew over in the nearly constant winds. In addition, they were plagued by mosquitos and a lack of supplies. Nonetheless, creature comforts were outweighed by their desire to perfect flight.

In 1901, the brothers improved their camp conditions. They constructed a more permanent wood-frame workshop and storage facility. In 1902, with the help of local residents, they upgraded their camp buildings further by adding more space to the workshop for use as living quarters. When they returned to the Outer Banks yet again in 1903, they repaired the storage facility/workshop, which had been blown off its foundation by storms, and they also constructed a hangar to assemble their powered aircraft.

Reconstruction

The camp buildings were first reconstructed in 1953 in commmoration of the 50th anniversary of the first flight. Due to storm and termite damage, these structures were removed in 1963 and rebuilt between 1963 and 1965.

In 1976, the hangar was replaced due to deteriorating conditions and the living quarters recieved much needed repairs the same year.

In 1984, the hangar was rebuilt for a third time, to more exact specifications, after being damaged by a storm.

In 1993, the parks preservation team rebuilt both the living quarters and the hangar building. Although they subsequently require occasional replacement materials and repairs, these are the current structures that stand today.