Most history markers on the Outer Banks point to something that's gone. The new Kitty Hawk Life-Saving Station Memorial on the Beach Road stands a short walk from the building it describes. The town placed it at the Kitty Hawk Bath House Beach Access, which the town lists at 3840 N. Virginia Dare Trail. The 1874 Kitty Hawk Life-Saving Station building, now home to the Black Pelican restaurant, is listed at 3848 Virginia Dare Trail North. The memorial and the original station are eight street numbers apart.
That makes the area around milepost 4 different from almost every other lifesaving site on this coast. You can see the monument, walk to the original building, and order lunch inside it on the same afternoon.
Seven Stations Finished in 1874, and Kitty Hawk's Is Still Open for Lunch
The Kitty Hawk station was one of the first seven life-saving stations on the North Carolina coast. All seven were finished in October 1874. The Chicamacomico Historical Association has tracked what became of each one:
- Chicamacomico: the original station and its outbuildings still stand as a museum on Hatteras Island.
- Little Kinnakeet: closed in 1954. It still stands on the soundside north of Avon, and visitors can walk the grounds but not go inside the buildings.
- Oregon Inlet: what survives is a newer 1898 station. It's closed to the public, and erosion has left its future in doubt.
- Nags Head: destroyed in the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962.
- Kitty Hawk: the 1874 station near milepost 4.5 on the Beach Road, now the Black Pelican Restaurant.
- Caffey's Inlet: on the Dare-Currituck line in Duck, now a restaurant at the Sanderling Resort.
- Jones Hill: also called Currituck Beach Station. It was moved from its original spot in Corolla to a site next to the Penneys Hill Station and is now a private home.
That leaves one museum, one set of grounds you can walk, two restaurants, one private home, one closed station and one that's gone. Kitty Hawk is the only one of the seven that now has a new town memorial standing a few doors from the original building.
The building has changed over the years. The U.S. Life-Saving Service Heritage Association lists the Kitty Hawk station house as "Moved and Altered." Still, the walls the surfmen worked in are about a block from the plaque that honors them, and most memorials on this coast can't say that.
What the Town Built at the Bath House
The Town of Kitty Hawk set the dedication and ribbon-cutting for Friday, September 18, 2026, at 3 p.m. at the Bath House Beach Access. The program included remarks from town officials and community partners, a presentation of the colors by the U.S. Coast Guard, and historical remarks about the Life-Saving Service and the Kitty Hawk station. The Outer Banks Voice published the town's announcement, which quoted Mayor Charlotte Walker:
"The Life-Saving Service is an important part of Kitty Hawk's history and the history of the Outer Banks. This memorial provides a lasting place to honor the men who served our community and to share their story with residents and visitors for years to come."
The site has educational displays on the Life-Saving Service, the men who served at the Kitty Hawk station, and lifesaving on the Outer Banks. It also has a 13-foot replica surfboat. Surfmen rowed boats like that one through the breakers to reach ships in trouble. Seeing one at full size, a few steps from the beach, gives a clear sense of how small the boat was compared with the ocean in front of it.
The project took a lot of partners. The town credited the Kitty Hawk Town Council, town staff, the Recreation Committee, Dare County, the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, the North Carolina Maritime Museum, historical researchers, the builders of the replica surfboat, designers, contractors and donors. Town Manager Melody Clopton, in the same announcement, called it "an opportunity to connect Kitty Hawk's past with its present."
That connection is easiest to see if you keep walking.
Inside the Station Building
The Black Pelican's history page gives the station's basics. It was built in 1874, it was one of seven such stations on the North Carolina coast, and it had a crew of one keeper and six surfmen. Much of the page tells the legend of the black pelican the restaurant is named for, drawing on the journal of keeper W.D. Tate.
The restaurant's About Us page adds more. It calls the building station No. 6 and says it also served as a weather bureau that the Wright brothers used while planning their flights. It also says the brothers telegraphed news of their 1903 first flight from the station. Those claims come from the restaurant's own account. They help explain why the building matters to Kitty Hawk's identity, even though the flight itself happened down the beach.
For planning a visit, the Black Pelican lists hours of Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Lunch runs until 4 p.m. and dinner from 4 to 9. The restaurant says it's open year-round except Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This year those closures fall on November 26, December 24 and December 25. The restaurant is closed Mondays, so plan a memorial-and-lunch outing for another day of the week.
The Crew Down the Beach
The station network didn't stop at Kitty Hawk, and neither does the story. On December 17, 1903, the men on hand when Orville Wright flew at Kill Devil Hills included three members of the Kill Devil Hills Life-Saving Station: Adam Etheridge, Willis Dough and John Daniels. The National Park Service identifies all three in its account of the First Flight sculpture. It also notes that Daniels took the famous photograph of the first flight. Two other witnesses shown in the sculpture are W.C. Brinkley, a Manteo lumberman who happened to be at the Kill Devil Hills station that day, and Johnny Moore, a 16-year-old local.
Surfmen on this coast spent their days watching the beach and launching boats through the surf. That's why they were there to help with the flying machine on the sand, and why the best-known photo of the day was taken by a surfman.
Five weeks after this post goes up, that history gets its yearly ceremony. The First Flight Society lists its 2026 Wright Brothers Day ceremony for Thursday, December 17, 2026, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. Admission is free.
One Stretch of Road, Three Stops
| Stop | Where | What's There | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitty Hawk Life-Saving Station Memorial | Kitty Hawk Bath House Beach Access, 3840 N. Virginia Dare Trail | Educational displays on the Life-Saving Service and the Kitty Hawk station, plus a 13-foot replica surfboat | Beach access site |
| The 1874 Kitty Hawk station, now the Black Pelican | 3848 Virginia Dare Trail North, around milepost 4 | The original station building, moved and altered, now a restaurant | Tue–Sun, 11:30 a.m.–9 p.m.; closed Nov. 26, Dec. 24 and Dec. 25 |
| Wright Brothers Day ceremony | Wright Brothers National Memorial, Kill Devil Hills | First Flight Society's yearly ceremony marking the flight the Kill Devil Hills surfmen witnessed | Thursday, Dec. 17, 2026, 9–11:30 a.m., free |
The first two stops are just a few doors apart, so it's an easy walk on a calm November afternoon. You can also stop by the memorial before lunch when family is in town for the holidays.
At Corolla Real Estate, we spend a lot of time on the Beach Road between Kitty Hawk and Corolla, and we enjoy watching towns invest in their own history like this. If you own along this stretch and want to talk about how places like the memorial and the old station factor into what your property is worth, schedule a private consultation and we'll walk through it together.
