| Kill Devil Hills at a Glance There has been much controversy as to whether the town´s name should be spelled Kill Devil Hills or Hill. Actually, both terms are correct because they refer to different things. Kill Devil Hill is the largest sand hill in the town, now grassed over, on which the Wright Memorial has been erected. Kill Devil Hills is the name given the surrounding community, the Coast Guard Station, and the Post Office. Like its neighbor Kitty Hawk to the north, a number of legends exist about the origin of the name Kill Devil Hills, with no clear-cut evidence to substantiate one over the other. They are all fun, thiough, so you can pick your favorite. In 1728, William Byrd of Virginia wrote that "Most of the Rum they get in this Country comes from New England, and it is so bad and unwholesome, that it is not improperly called ?Kill-Devil.´" This was combined with a story that a ship loaded with this "Kill-Devil Rum" was wrecked opposite the sand hills. More fanciful is the story that long ago, bales and boxes from a wrecked vessel were piled on the beach opposite the hills. Guards were posted to watch the salvaged cargo through the night. The first night the guards awoke to find several boxes missing. The guard was doubled the next night, but even as they kept watch they saw a large bale detach itself and move off across the sand, apparently under its own power. The guards were convinced it was the work of the Devil and refused to have anything more to do with the job, but an old banker named Devil Ike volunteered to take over the watch. The next night, as a box suddenly began moving, Devil Ike, armed with a gun, ran after it and discovered a line attached. On the other end was a beach pony led by one of his neighbors. Ike cut the line, fired shots into the air, and frightened the neighbor away. He returned the cargo and reported there would be no further trouble, as he had "killed the Devil." Some say that the name derives from "kildee" or "killdeer," a small shore bird once common in the area, and that the nearby sand hills were dubbed "Killdeer Hills," eventually becoming Kill Devil Hills. Yet another theory stems from the fact that in the colonial period the word "kill" was sometimes used in place names to designate a stream, creek, or channel, and that "devil" referred to a moving sand spout. At the same time, "kill-devil" was the name of an artificial bait, made to spin in the water like a wounded fish. In 1851 the editor of the Norfolk American Beacon had the following to say about the origin of the name: "In the vicinity of Nag´s Head, very conspicuous when sailing down the sound, there is a range of sand hills called Kill Devil Hills, not because his satonic majesty was there disposed of...but because sailors say it is enough to kill the Devil to navigate that part of the sound." Apparently the first appearance of the name in writing was the designation "Killdevil Hills," which appeared on the Price and Strother map in 1808. By the time the Lewis map was published in 1814, it appeared in its present form of Kill Devil Hills. The western shore of Kill Devil Hills, between the present day Wright Memorial and Colington Island, was settled before the Revolution. More people were probably living there in the mid-18th century than in the mid-20th. Due to this large population, the US government constructed one of seven original Lifesaving Stations on the Outer Banks nearby and gave it the name of Kill Devil Hills. The town itself was incorporated in 1953.The town is perhaps best known as the site of Orville and Wilbur Wright´s glider experiments in 1900-1902, and of the first successful heavier-than-air flight made by the Wright Brothers in 1903. The Wright Brothers Monument was erected in 1931-32 at a cost of $285,000. Constructed of Mt. Airy granite under the direction of the US Army Engineers, it sits atop the 91 foot sand hill that is the centerpiece of the Park. The granite base is sunken 35 feet into the hill and rises 61 feet above it. Originally designed as a lighthouse, it was not used for that purpose after it was discovered that mariners confused it with the existing lighthouses. In early 1998, the Monument was restored to its former glory as a lighthouse in preparation for the anniversary of 100 years of flight, December 17, 2003. Today Kill Devil Hills is a mix of year-round residents, second homes, and investment properties. The majority of the properties located between the highways (US Route 158 and the beach road) and fronting the ocean are seasonal rental homes. Most year-round residents of Kill Devil Hills prefer to live west of the Bypass (US Route 158). The most extensive residential development can be found in the area north of the Wright Memorial, in subdivisions such as Avalon Beach, First Flight Village, and Wright´s Shores. Numerous amenities are available on the west side, including six hard surface, public tennis courts at the Kill Devil Hills Fire Department and the Water Plant, a branch of the County Library, an elementary, middle school and high school complex, and the Thomas A. Baum Senior Center. |