Things to Do in Kill Devil Hills, NC: Map & Local Guide

The first flight did not happen in Kitty Hawk. It happened here, on a dune that was moving at the time.

In 1903 the whole area went by the name Kitty Hawk — the nearest settlement with a post office, and where the telegram went out from — so that is where the credit went too. Kill Devil Hills did not become a town until 1953, half a century after it became the most important patch of sand in aviation. It is also the Kil- in the show’s Kildare: Kildare Island, explained takes the name apart and lists fifty-four things to do on the real coast, starting on this hill.

And the dune really was moving. The brothers picked Big Kill Devil Hill precisely because it was loose, windy and forgiving to land on. When the country decided to put a monument on top of it, that turned into a problem: by then the hill had walked about 450 feet from where the gliders used to launch, and you cannot set granite on something that travels. So in 1929 they fenced out the hogs and cattle, spread straw and wood mold, planted vetch and marram grass, and waited. By the summer of 1930 the hill had stopped. The monument was dedicated in November 1932, on a dune that had to be tamed before it could be honored. Stand up there now and it feels like bedrock. It is not.

About the name. You will be told it comes from rum strong enough to kill the devil. You may also be told a local trapped the devil in a pit on top of the hill. The town files both under legend, which is the honest answer — nobody knows.

Kill Devil Hills is the central beach town, mileposts 5 to 10, and the largest on the Outer Banks: 7,641 people at the 2020 census, more than any other town out here. The monument is visible from most of it, and everything below is a few minutes from that hill. It also makes the obvious base — Kitty Hawk’s public beaches a few minutes north, Nags Head’s dunes and piers a few minutes south, Manteo a short drive across the bridge. Weekday mornings at the memorial are the quiet ones, before the tour buses.

Things to Do in Kill Devil Hills

• Stand where flight began – Wright Brothers National Memorial. Four granite markers sit out on the field at the exact distances the brothers reached on 17 December 1903: 12 seconds and 120 feet on the first, 59 seconds and 852 feet on the fourth. Walk from the first marker to the fourth and you have walked the whole of aviation’s opening morning in under a minute. The monument tops Big Kill Devil Hill, and the visitor center holds a reproduction of the 1903 Flyer and a 16-screen video wall. An entrance fee applies for adults and park passes are accepted — check the Park Service for current hours and closures.
• Drive the 4x4 beach – 45 minutes north, the pavement ends at the Corolla ramp and the next 11 miles of beach are drive-on only, with the Corolla wild horses living along it. You don’t need to own a 4x4: Beach4x4 rents Jeeps and 4WD SUVs right here in Kill Devil Hills by the day or the weekend, open all year, seven days a week, with the beach permits included. The drive is best near low tide.
• Watch the fly-ins – First Flight Airport. An NPS airstrip right beside the monument, where pilots still land a short walk from the spot flight was invented, with no ticket booth involved. No fuel on the field; tie-downs available. Full detail at firstflightairport.us.
• Fish or stroll Avalon Pier – a 1958 pier at milepost 6 with a bait shop, an arcade and the only second-story bar deck on an Outer Banks pier. Hours move with the season.
• Hit the beach – public beach access runs the length of the beach road. Ocean Bay Blvd is the one to aim for: lifeguarded, bath house, handicap parking, and the town’s fully accessible access.
• Walk Nags Head Woods – the Nature Conservancy’s maritime forest is entered from Kill Devil Hills, off Ocean Acres Dr, whatever the name says. Miles of quiet trail through forest and freshwater ponds, and it pairs with a Nags Head afternoon. Bug spray in summer.
• Let the kids or the dog run – Aviation Park on Veterans Dr: a concrete skatepark that takes BMX, a dog park, playground, restrooms and a summer farmers market. Mary’s Paws Park there has three fenced yards and a wash station, and the beach takes leashed dogs outside peak summer daytime hours — rules in the dog-friendly guide.

When the sun drops, Kill Devil Hills quietly owns the evening. The Hayman Blvd gazebo on Bay Drive is the locals’ sunset bench over the sound. And the memorial has a trick worth knowing: the main gates shut earlier in the evening, but the First Flight Airport lot on the far side stays open until roughly sunset, which puts the monument at golden hour back on the table. The rest of the playbook is in our sunset spots guide.

On two wheels this is the best town on the beach: the Bay Drive path along the sound, best ridden late, and the First Flight multi-use path from Town Hall past the memorials and the airstrip toward Colington, where the smart money carries cash for a dockside tavern stop. Both are on the trails and biking guide.

Kill Devil Hills Map

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Where to Eat & Stay

Awful Arthur’s Oyster Bar is the anchor — an institution directly across from Avalon Pier, and the seat you want is at the bar where you can watch them steam and shuck. Hours vary by day. Past that, the beach road here carries the usual run of casual seafood, breakfast counters and ice cream, so you are never far from a meal coming off the sand. For lodging, Kill Devil Hills has the densest run of oceanfront hotels and motels on the Outer Banks, plus rental cottages set back from the beach road, from budget motels to oceanfront condos. Our full Outer Banks Restaurants guide covers the wider area. Traveling with a dog? Pet friendly hotels on the Outer Banks, checked town by town.

Related OBX Guides

Just up the beach road, Kitty Hawk is the town that got the credit for what happened on this hill. Everything else is in Things to Do in the Outer Banks.

If the dog came along, The Salty Dog is a self-guided hunt of ours across Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head with the dog as the point rather than a complication — every stop is somewhere a dog is genuinely welcome, and finishers are certified an official Salty Dog of the Outer Banks. Half a day, $29 a team.