Kill Devil Hills is a town in Dare County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 7,633 at the 2020 census. It is the most populous settlement in both Dare County and on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The Kill Devil Hills micropolitan statistical area, consisting of all of Dare County, is part of the larger Virginia Beach–Norfolk combined statistical area.

The town was founded and developed on the site of the Wright brothers' first controlled, powered airplane flights on December 17, 1903, chosen for its good winds. It was commemorated by the Wright Brothers National Memorial, which was dedicated in 1932. At the time of the Wright Flyer flights, the town of Kill Devil Hills did not exist, and it did not receive its municipal charter until 1953. Kitty Hawk, approximately north, was the nearest settlement at the time and is popularly noted as the site of the first flight.

History

Kill Devil Hills is the site of the Wright Brothers National Memorial, commemorating the siblings' four powered airplane flights in the Wright Flyer on Thursday, December 17, 1903. Orville returned in 1911, and on October 25 he set a new world glider record, remaining in the air 10 minutes and 34 seconds, soaring against the wind with very little forward movement.

In addition to the Wright Brothers National Memorial, Sam's Diner in the town is on the National Register of Historic Places, listed in 1999.

Geography

Kill Devil Hills is located at (36.025448, −75.670105), on the barrier islands known as the Outer Banks. The average seasonal (Dec-Mar) snowfall total is < 2 inches (< 5&nbsp;cm), and the average annual peak in nor'easter activity is in February.

Ecology

According to the A. W. Kuchler U.S. potential natural vegetation types, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina would have a dominant vegetation type of Live oak/Sea Oats Uniola paniculata (90) with a dominant vegetation form of Coastal Prairie (20).

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Kill Devil Hills had a population of 7,656. The median age was 45.2 years. 17.7% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.7% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 99.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.5 males.

There were 3,294 households in Kill Devil Hills, of which 25.2% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 44.2% were married-couple households, 21.2% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 25.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

!scope="col"| Race

!scope="col"| Number

!scope="col"| Percentage

|-

!scope="row"| White (non-Hispanic)

| 6,478

| 84.61%

|-

!scope="row"| Black or African American (non-Hispanic)

| 86

| 1.12%

|-

!scope="row"| Native American

| 25

| 0.33%

|-

!scope="row"| Asian

| 84

| 1.1%

|-

!scope="row"| Other/Mixed

| 324

| 4.23%

|-

!scope="row"| Hispanic or Latino

| 659

| 8.61%

|}

2000 census

As of the census

Education

The town is under the jurisdiction of Dare County Schools.

First Flight Elementary School and First Flight Middle School are in Kill Devil Hills, just south of the Monument. Kill Devil Hills is also served by First Flight High School. The school first opened on Tuesday, August 17, 2004, to 800 students. Previously, high school students from Kill Devil Hills attended Manteo High School.

Some portions of Kill Devil Hills are zoned to Nags Head Elementary instead of First Flight Elementary. Previously Kitty Hawk Elementary School served areas north of Colington Road/Ocean Bay Blvd while First Flight Elementary served points south. Boundaries changed when Nags Head Elementary opened in 2005.

Dare County Library has a branch in Kill Devil Hills.

Transportation

thumb|In 1903 the [[Wright Brothers flew the first airplane, the Wright Flyer, from land now part of Kill Devil Hills]]

First Flight Airport is a public use airport which is owned by the National Park Service (NPS), and located one mile west of Kill Devil Hills.

First Flight Airport covers an area of 40 acres at an elevation of above mean sea level. It has one runway; designated 3/21, with an asphalt surface measuring . For the 12-month period ending August 19, 2009, the airport had 38,120 aircraft operations, an average of 104 per day: 97% general aviation, 3% air taxi, and <1% military.

  • In March 2011, it was announced that bass guitarist Rex Brown (Pantera) and drummer Vinny Appice (Heaven & Hell, Black Sabbath, Dio) had formed a new band called Kill Devil Hill.
  • The closing scenes of the 1983 film Brainstorm take place at the Wright Brothers National Memorial visitor center in Kill Devil Hills.
  • Dennis Anderson, creator and former driver of the Grave Digger monster truck in the Monster Jam touring series, makes his home in Kill Devil Hills, and the town's name appears on the truck's artwork, keeping with its "spooky" theme. The team's garage is located in nearby Poplar Branch.
  • The 2005 album Tyranny of Souls by Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden frontman) contains a track titled "Kill Devil Hill", a song about the first controlled airplane flight.

References

  • Story of how Kill Devil Hills got its name (outerbanksdistilling.com)

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Rum... was referred to as “kill-devil.” ...[a popular name] for rum at this time[, the 1650's]. The trade in rum soon expanded to the colonies in New England, which is when the Legend of Kill Devil may have arrived on the Outer Banks through shipwrecks. The more than 1,000 shipwrecks along the Outer Banks have led it to be named “The Graveyard of the Atlantic,” and some of the wreckage contained barrels of rum. The town of Kill Devil Hills is believed to have been named for either barrels of rum of the brand name Kill Devil or for a rum that was “strong enough to kill the devil.” Some believe the ships were lured close to shore on dark nights by a lantern hung from a horse’s (or nag’s) neck and walked along the dunes, causing the ships to wreck on the shallow shoals. This practice gives the adjacent town of Nags Head its name. The story continues with these plundered barrels of rum being hid behind the hill which is now the site of the Wright Brothers Monument. In 1873 the area Lifesaving Station adopted the name Kill Devil Hills followed by the town in 1953.

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