12/16/2023
While everyone fights about where Kill Devil Hills was, and the Wrights get ready for their next flight, lets talk a little about the hill. Big Kill Devil Hill, and the surrounding area, from which Kill Devil Hills gets its name, was originally one of many migrating dunes that was part of the island. It actually stood slightly northeast of its current location. If you climb to the monument and look to the ocean toward the north, you will see a large copse of trees where the drive wraps around the quick growing pines. The low area quickly filled, first with water, then seeds found harvest, and later the pines grew.
The hill was stabilized before building the monument. The US Army Corps of Engineers planted huge amounts of grass seed to stop the movement of the hill, freezing it where it stood. You can see, in this photo, the "back side" of the dune, in that the shape is a bowl. This often happens on the southeast side of dunes on the Outer Banks, creating a shallow and sand free pit that is often filled with wet and hard packed sand and mud. Jockey's Ridge once stood in the same way back in the 1970s with its tall back dune, Wedding Hill.
The protected bowl was a good place to build the small generator room that originally powered the lighted beacon on the monument. The building is still there, but don't go walking to it. The grassy area is full of cactus and sandspurs.
