Fun Facts about Kitty Hawk

Fun Facts

• Kitty Hawk is 8.23 square miles in area, which includes .05 square miles of water.
• The elevation of Kill Devil Hills averages just 7' feet above sea level.
• Kitty Hawk has an impressive year-round population of more than 3,200 residents. This number skyrockets in the summer months to 40,000 visitors or more.
• Kitty Hawk borders the Albemarle Sound, as well as the Currituck Sound. The two sounds "meet" just off the western Kitty Hawk coastline, close to the Wright Memorial Bridge.
• There are two main roads that run through Kitty Hawk - US 158, also known as the Beach Bypass, and NC Highway 12, also known as the Beach Road.
• There are no alligators in the Currituck or Albemarle Sounds, but the soundside region of Kitty Hawk is home to a wealth of migrating and year-round birds, reptiles, fish, and mammals.
• The Kitty Hawk Woods Reserve encompasses 1,824 acres of maritime deciduous swamp, forest, and marsh. Of this area, the Town of Kitty Hawk owns 461 undeveloped acres.
• Kitty Hawk was unheard of until 1903, when the town became famous thanks to the Wright Brothers.
• Kitty Hawk is credited as the home of the Wright Brother's first flight, but it was simply telegraphed from the town via the Kitty Hawk Weather Station. The first flight actually took place in neighboring Kill Devil Hills, which was not a "town" at the time, but was officially incorporated about 50 years later.
• Kitty Hawk is often the first town visitors will enter when they arrive on the Outer Banks, as its northern town borders connect with the Wright Memorial Bridge.
• The Aycock Brown Welcome Station, the largest Outer Banks Visitors Bureau Visitors Center, is located in Kitty Hawk, just after the Wright Memorial Bridge ends.
• Kitty Hawk is home to a golf course, a natural preserve, several public boat launches, and the Outer Banks' only Wal-Mart.
• In 2005, Kitty Hawk got a sister city - Coulaines in Pays de la Loire, France.