Monument to a Century of Flight

In a village in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, just down the road from the site where the Wright brothers lifted off and became the first in flight, is a big monument hardly anyone has heard of. 

In the early 2000s, Kitty Hawk was planning for the Century of Flight celebration to mark the 100-year anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ monumental aviation achievement. The area already had a monument at the Wright Brothers National Park, but they wanted another one.

The town hired artists Glenn Eure, Hanna Jubran, and Jodi Hollnagel Jubran to lay out the unique design for the monument. But strangely, they placed this particular memorial away from the road in a spot where it’s basically hidden in the woods and largely obscured from sight.

Those who do stumble upon the monument are greeted by 14 stainless steel columns shaped like wings with heights ranging from 10 to 20 feet. Each one shines and shimmers in the sunlight. On them are black granite plaques with pictures and words depicting 100 significant events in air travel. In the middle of it all is a bronze dome showing the continents entwined with a message from Kitty Hawk. At the entrance shows the poem “High Flight” written by James G. Magee, Jr. and a time capsule not to be opened until 2103.