North Carolina Living: Kitty Hawk North Carolina

Kitty Hawk North Carolina

The once-tiny soundside village is one of the largest townships on the Outer Banks. On the oceanside, thousands of rental homes, restaurants and shops are part of the development that has characterized the northern Outer Banks from Nags Head to Corolla. The Town of Kitty Hawk prides itself on providing a public beach for the enjoyment of fulltime residents and visitors alike. There are many public beach accesses, with parking available.

Located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the Town of Kitty Hawk offers year-round residents and visitors alike a unique and relaxing environment. The Town consists of a thriving Village that has been around for generations, a newer beach community of residential cottages, and a maritime forest called Kitty Hawk Woods. The Woods feature a wide variety of plant and animal life.

The beach and village consist of low to medium density, single-family residential developments served by small businesses. Both the beach and the village share a feeling that development remains on a human scale and in harmony with nature. It is a pattern and character of development that the Town's people, both year-round and seasonal, are quite comfortable with and want to retain.

The origin of the name Kitty Hawk is still a matter of local debate. Most people agree that it is a Native American name for this area. The word originally appeared on English settlers' maps as "Chickehawk" or "Chickahawk" in the early 1700's. By the late 1700's, local residents spelled the name as we do today, with old land deeds referring to settlements as "Kittyhuk," "Kittyhark," KittyHawk," and "Kitty Hawk."

Once a remote area, Kitty Hawk NC has grown into a summer resort area and provides some of the best beach recreation on the North Carolina Coast.

When Orville Wright stepped ashore in Kitty Hawk Village in the fall of 1900, he probably already knew that he and his brother were destined to make history as discoverers of flight. After all, they had chosen this remote fishing village on the Outer Banks partly for privacy from prying eyes. Three years later, they would indeed break the bonds of earth for the first time in their heavier than air flying machine. From that moment forward, Kitty Hawk would forever be associated with the Wright Brothers as the birthplace of aviation -although the actual flight took place four miles south from the base of Kill Devil Hill.