18 months of renovations renews classic look of the Visitor Center.
Now restored to its original look, the Visitor Center at the Wright Brothers Monument is filled with innovative exhibits telling the story of the genius of Wilbur and Orville Wright. The building, dedicated in 1960 is on the National Register of Historic Buildings and its modernist architectural style was the model for a number of modern National Park Service buildings. This article from the Outer Banks Voice does a great job of describing the reopening, and you can take a peek yourself with an awesome video tour!
Renovated Wright Bros. Visitor Center reopens as its old self
Following 18 months of work to bring back its original look from the 1960s, a grand reopening ceremony for the Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center is being celebrated today.
The park will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Entrance fees will be waived for the unveiling, which was pushed back a month by Hurricane Florence.
Starting at 9:30 am, the grand reopening ceremony will feature speeches by National Park Service Southeast Regional Director Robert Vogel and National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent David Hallac.
After the ribbon cutting, Dare County fourth graders and their families are invited to be the first to experience the visitor center’s brand-new, interactive exhibits.
The National Park Service is honoring fourth graders as the distinguished guests as part of the national Every Kid in a Park program and to promote their study of Orville and Wilbur Wright’s achievements as part of their fourth-grade curriculum.
Throughout the day, visitors are invited to explore the visitor center and to enjoy the interactive activities and exhibits on aviation, historic preservation, and STEAM-based activities (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) provided by local and regional partners.
The $5.8 million rehabilitation project, led by Group III Management from Kinston, started in the winter of 2016. The work has brought the building back to the way it appeared when it opened in 1960 — orange trim, concrete and all.
At one point, plans were to tear down what was considered an outdated eyesore. But the center is not only a National Historic Landmark; it is also considered a stellar example of the National Park Service’s “Mission 66” architecture.
The center had lost its retro glamour over the years, thanks to questionable “improvements” and a persistently leaking roof.
Sneak Peek at the New Exhibits
Along the journey, visitors will also encounter people who helped and interacted with the Wrights including Katharine Wright, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Charles Taylor, to name a few.
Once inside the renovated center, visitors will embark on a journey through the lives of Orville and Wilbur Wright, exploring their characters, diving into problems they solved and the methods they used that ultimately led to their first flight on Dec. 17, 1903.
