West Hill

Best Time to Visit West Hill

The source material doesn't give West Hill its own hours or seasonal guidance, since it's a dune within the wider Wright Brothers National Memorial grounds in Kill Devil Hills rather than an independently scheduled site. Build time for it into a Memorial visit organized around the fuller history — the 1902 glider testing Orville's notebooks tie to West Hill, and the 1908 two-person flights Wilbur and Orville each piloted there with Charles Furnas aboard — rather than a quick stop at just the monument and visitor center. Giving yourself extra time on the grounds, instead of moving straight to the granite monument, is the best way to take in what happened at West Hill specifically.

Tips for Visiting West Hill

• West Hill's standout moment isn't the 1900-1903 glider era most visitors associate with the site — it's May 14, 1908, when Wilbur piloted the first flight ever made with two people aboard, carrying mechanic Charles Furnas.
• A second flight that same day, flown by Orville with Furnas aboard, passed directly between Kill Devil Hill and West Hill and covered more than two miles — worth knowing if you're tracing the fuller history rather than just the monument.
• If the 1902 glider-testing history interests you specifically, know that Orville's own notebooks are the source tying those flights to West Hill by name, one of the more specific historical anchors for a dune with no marked trail of its own.
• West Hill isn't a hike with mileage or elevation to plan around — it's a history stop for visitors digging past the monument and visitor center into the fuller story of the site.

Getting to West Hill

West Hill sits within the Wright Brothers National Memorial grounds in Kill Devil Hills, near the memorial's granite monument and visitor center. It isn't set up as a separate stop with its own trailhead or marked path, and there's no dedicated entrance or route leading to it apart from the Memorial grounds themselves. Visitors who want to see it should plan to explore the grounds beyond the monument and visitor center, taking in the wider dune landscape the Wrights used for glider testing rather than heading straight for one marked destination.

What to Expect at West Hill

West Hill is one of three sand dunes on the grounds of the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, one of a trio the Wrights named along with Kill Devil Hill (the tallest, now topped by the 60-foot granite monument dedicated in 1932) and Little Hill, the smallest. Between 1900 and 1903, the Wrights launched more than a thousand glider flights off these dunes, and Orville's own notebooks record flying the 1902 glider specifically off West Hill. The dune has its own chapter in aviation history beyond the glider years: on May 14, 1908, Wilbur piloted the first flight ever made with two people aboard, carrying mechanic Charles Furnas, and a second flight that day, flown by Orville with Furnas aboard, covered more than two miles and passed directly between Kill Devil Hill and West Hill.