Wright Brothers National Memorial

Very an amazing and informative museum.
Great for family, especially if you are a science fan. Plenty of historical (I can say authentic) items; to boost your knowledge, there are several slide presentations and booth stands.
There is a nice gift store, which is not as expensive as some similar gift shops.

Really neat place! The visitor center was beautiful- new signs and windows facing the memorial. Lots of natural light and interesting history of the Wright Brothers. The memorial itself can be driven to, but I recommend walking if you can! The monument sits on top of a hill where you can see the sound and Roanoke island across the water. We also enjoyed visiting the statue of the first flight on the other side of the monument. We went during off season (March) so we are unsure how crowded it gets in summer.

Very interactive museum!! They have a few of the original parts from the plane, which I thought was awesome. We got to experience a speaker talking about the brothers and their journey to make the first successful flying machine and he did phenomenal at telling us the story! There was a good amount of things to see and when you go outside there is even more! Highly recommend coming!

I visited on a late Friday afternoon, around 4pm. It wasn't busy at that time, plus the weather was windy, cloudy and cold. It was great visiting this monument and learning the history behind it

Lots of history and information in the museum. More history and facts than I realized, very educational. Far more crowded than expected for a weekday late afternoon in the heat. Awesome 360 views from the memorial. Very neat experience and a must-see when visiting OBX! History was made here! It's amazing to realize how far aviation has come in less than 120 years since the first flight of just 852 feet. Wilbur and Orville represent OHIO!

The park rangers giving the educational talk was a highlight of our stop. He was such a great storyteller, I wish I new his name. The visitor's center is interactive, set up to inspire a new generation of dreamers, highlighting the perseverance and ingenuity to try and try again to be successful, even when met with setbacks. I learned so much more about the Wright Brothers and early flight than I already knew. The walk up the hill wasn't as bad as it looked.

The park Ranger gave us a thorough presentation today. Our experience was great.

7 day pass for $10 a person. Great photo opportunity. Great historical information!

Beautiful and inspiring place. I considered myself an aviation history buff, but were still pleasantly surprised how much owe I felt visiting this place in person. 120 years has gone since the first flight and the world are forever in debt to the Wright brothers. Nothing is impossible. Dream on.

The ranger talks were entertaining, informative, and fun. We learned a lot while here and it was a cool experience to be where flight was invented.

Amazing piece of history. The museum tells the whole story of this amazing accomplishment. You learn so much. There's a life size reproduction of the original plane in the museum. You can climb to the monument on the hill that they launched from. The whole experience is remarkable.

Great place to see to learn the history of the first Flights

Absolutely amazing even in the rain. Was worth the visit

Well worth the admission ($10 each for adults). Very informative, and a beautiful monument. Seemed like they had ranger-led sessions about every hour on the hour.

Love this place. Awesome to visit and walk. Definitely going to revisit.

Update December 2023:
• We visited around 4PM on a Thursday in late December 2023 (after Christmas). We’ve visited this place before but needed to come back because we had not started collecting NPS Passport Cancellation Stamp yet. They have a special stamp here is similar to that of the Manhattan project where it spread across multiple sites that you have to visit in the country in order to complete the stamp. See picture in my review.
• We visited for the first time in 2021 during COVID and virtual schooling. Not much has changed other than there were a lot more people now and it’s the middle of winter.
• This is a paid site so be prepared to pay at the gate when you enter if you don’t have a NPS annual pass.
• Also the kids had not done the junior ranger before and wanted to get this badge. They were able to complete it in just over 30 mins but they have done many of these. You technically have to go out and read the markers but you could also google it or see the images other people have taken of the markers.
• We would probably visit again as it’s a nice place to just walk around and hike. Also have a picnic, assuming you have a national park pass. I wouldn't pay the entrance fee just to go in and have a picnic.
• The park does close at 5PM which is later than most NPS sites (typically 4PM) but the sunset as we were leaving were absolutely stunning. The tip was to do the monument first as the park will close from the monument area down.

Original Review Fall 2021: Fantastic visitor center and memorial. It cost $10/adult and our 3 kids were free. The visitor center is open with COVID and requires a mask. There are physical distancing signs and stickers all over the place. There were more people than I expected for a regular Fall Sunday afternoon. The gift shop is also open and they have bathrooms on the outside of the building which were open.

The exhibits in the visitor center were very well laid out and interesting even though a number of the interactive activities were closed or removed. My middle son (3rd grader) was just learning about the Write Brothers in school the week prior so it was perfect we just happened to be passing by. He was super excited to see a replica of the plane and learn so much more about this history.

We also walked out on the field and to each of the subsequent markers for their first flights. The kids had a blast racing each other down the path. There are cacti so be careful and don't stray too far off the paths.

We then got in the car and drove to the memorial (you can also walk from the visitor center but it's a long walk). The memorial is a giant loop around the monument. On the exact opposite side from where the visitor center, is another interesting park area with the recreation of the famous photo with a plaque explaining who was there when it all happened. Great place for photos of your own. My kids wanted to pretend to be the people in the photo so that was a fun exercise for them. To go up to the monument there are multiple paths. The most direct and steepest path is 3/4 the way around the loop. It looks like they designed the paths so that you could take it easy with a gradual incline but over a longer distance or very direct but also a steep ascend to the top. There were only 1 other group of people there when we visited so we got to take some amazing photos at the top. You could see the ocean and the sound from the top of the memorial.

Overall the $20 was totally worth it and the 60-90 minutes we spent there. We would recommend for anyone who's never been. Also your receipt is good for 7 days if you want to stop by it multiple times in a single trip. Great place to go for a walk or even have a picnic. There were a lot of picnic tables around and even many shaded in the trees. There were also bathrooms back behind the memorial in the one way circle and we didn't use them but they looked open. Also it looks like you could at one point go up the inside of the monument on the hill but it was closed while we were there (assuming due to small enclosed space and COVID).

Great exhibits and interactive displays. The grounds are well kept and it's nice to know the background of the Wright Brothers before they were famous.

Really well done memorial to commemorate the Wright brothers’ first powered flight of an aircraft. They did a great job with the exhibits explaining all that the Wright Brothers went through to accomplish the feat. A definite must-see if you are in the area.

Wonderful to visit this museum and historical site again after all these years. I visited it a long time ago when I was younger and I'm glad to have seen it again as an adult. And on such a clear and wonderful day (March 21, 2022) if albeit a bit windy. The gift shop's prices were a little bit on the high side again, but most of the proceeds to go maintaining the grounds. To visit the exact place where man first took to the sky will never cease to give me chills.

A well organized and spacious memorial...We even got a little hiking in climbing the hill to that monument and back down to the shed and markers fro the test flights..
One small discrepancy we found...the video in the building showed both propellers spinning in the same direction, but the model on the floor nearby was constructed properly...the blades ran opposite to each other as the original was...lol.. just a little trivia for you...