Wright Brothers' Kitty Hawk Camp Table

The Table Top

"Most of the top's pine boards were attached to one another with tongue-and-groove joints, and I concluded that they had once been part of a crate?the kind the Wrights used to ship equipment, tools, and flying-machine parts from Dayton. Someone had written on the underside of the top "W. Wright, Elizabeth City, NC." This was probably the shipping address the Wrights had inscribed on the crate. And the writing looked like handwriting on other items the Wrights owned.

One piece of evidence convinced me that this was indeed the table from the Wrights? camp. Two strips of wood were used to widen the top, and they were different from the crate planks: Unlike pine, they had a fine linear grain, typical of high-quality wood, likely spruce. I believe they were from a stash of wood that the brothers reserved for repairing their ash-and-spruce aircraft. Though the Wrights were eager to build the 1902 glider?the one on which they first achieved controlled flight?they appear to have used a little precious flying-machine material to finish the table." -Dr. Larry E. Tise

Top Right: This photograph is of the tables' top surface.

Bottom Right: This is the same photograph, digitally de-constructed to show its' parts.

By Dr. Larry E. Tise

Air & Space Smithsonian Magazine, March 01, 2010

In late August 1902, Wilbur and Orville Wright traveled from Dayton, Ohio, to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to test and develop one of their gliders on the windy dunes of the Outer Banks. Encamped in a rustic shed, they loved to tell their sister, Katharine, about their domestic ingenuity. In a letter dated August 31, Wilbur describes the brothers’ kitchen: "We also set up our table and covered the top with white oil cloth…."

More than a century later, on the evening of March 12, 2008, a young man named Ron Ciarmello called me with a remarkable story. "I think I have just found the original table from the Wright brothers’ camp," he said.

As a Wright historian, I hear claims like this fairly frequently, and I was skeptical. Between the ravages of Outer Banks weather and coastal people’s practice of "salvaging" unattended property, it was unlikely the table had survived. And even if it had, how could you prove such a claim? Ciarmello had bought the table from a local family who said they had owned it since the days the Wrights had walked on the Outer Banks. But historians need more evidence.

Ciarmello had already done some homework. On the Library of Congress’ Web site, he had found a photograph of the shed’s kitchen that showed a corner of a table. "I swear it’s the same table in that picture," he said. And he had found a second photograph of the table in a book I had written on hidden images in the Wright brothers’ photographs.

I asked Ron to e-mail photographs of his table, and when they arrived, my eyes popped. It’s possible, I thought. And if it was the real thing, it was a major find: The Wrights’ diaries and letters recount that the brothers did their writing and sketching on it. In a way, the table was the center of the camp.

A few weeks later, I went to Kitty Hawk to meet Ron and examine the table. It was smallish—the top was 39 5/8 by 30 inches. The base had once been part of a small writing table. There was an opening that once held a drawer. The legs were crudely formed on a lathe, each one a little different.

Most of the top’s pine boards were attached to one another with tongue-and-groove joints, and I concluded that they had once been part of a crate—the kind the Wrights used to ship equipment, tools, and flying-machine parts from Dayton. Someone had written on the underside of the top "W. Wright, Elizabeth City, NC." This was probably the shipping address the Wrights had inscribed on the crate. And the writing looked like handwriting on other items the Wrights owned.

One piece of evidence convinced me that this was indeed the table from the Wrights’ camp. Two strips of wood were used to widen the top, and they were different from the crate planks: Unlike pine, they had a fine linear grain, typical of high-quality wood, likely spruce. I believe they were from a stash of wood that the brothers reserved for repairing their ash-and-spruce aircraft. Though the Wrights were eager to build the 1902 glider—the one on which they first achieved controlled flight—they appear to have used a little precious flying-machine material to finish the table.

I enlisted the help of photo-analysts at the school where I teach, East Carolina University, and we matched the table’s wood grain, leg turnings, and nail holes with those visible in the photograph in my book. We later took the photograph and the table to my documentary editing class, and the students identified tiny holes that could have been left by tacks holding down the oil cloth covering.

When we looked at this nondescript piece of furniture, we could then envision the late-night scribbling, pounding of fists, and Eureka! moments. The table became infused with the aura of mystery that surrounds places where humans made history.

After more studies, we shared our findings with the National Air and Space Museum. Finding our conclusions compelling, the curators examined the table and, convinced of its authenticity, agreed to exhibit it in the gallery "The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age," beginning last January. Now visitors will see two items crafted by the Wrights: the world’s first airplane, and a kitchen table. Says senior aeronautics curator Tom Crouch, a Wright brothers authority, "This beat-up, slapped-together piece of furniture will help to bring the story of the invention of the airplane to life for Museum visitors."

A CENTURY LATER, HE MAY HAVE THE WRIGHT STUFF
Table is thought to be rare surviving relic from brothers’ historic camp
By Catherine Kozak
The Virginian-Pilot, April 24th, 2008

KILL DEVIL HILLS

Orville and Wilbur Wright were meticulous and tidy men, as evidenced by a photograph they took of their camp kitchen at the base of barren Kill Devil Hill.

Containers lined shelves in perfect rows, and every dish was neatly stacked. Pots and pans and a muffin tin hung just so on the rough-hewn walls.

In the lower right corner of the shot, about half of a wooden table is visible. It looks makeshift, but in typical Wright fashion, it is devoid of clutter.

Ron Ciarmello recently bought that dining table – he hopes.

If a historic analysis proves that it is indeed the same table, it will be the only known surviving piece of furniture used at the camp where the brothers lived while they tested their flying machines.

Today, the table will be shown to the public for the first time, at Wright Brothers National Memorial at 7 p.m.

Ciarmello, a 32-year-old aviation enthusiast, said that he had answered an advertisement placed in March by a Currituck County resident for "a Wright brothers camp table." How could he resist?

"I bought it from a local woman who was moving," he said. "It had been in her family for about 100 years."

Covering the Sheraton-style base of the table may be two opposite sides of a shipping crate that probably held tools or other supplies, said Ciarmello, a Kill Devil Hills jeweler. Nail holes and knots match up with those evident in the photograph, and the leading edge of the table top is made of long strips of ash – the same kind of wood used as ribs on the Wright gliders.

Most impressively, under the table, written in black, it has a name, "W. Wright," and place, "Elizabeth City."

Larry Tise, Wilbur and Orville Wright distinguished professor of history at East Carolina University, said he was skeptical when Ciarmello contacted him. He hears often from folks who believe they have some great Wright item, but rarely does it end up to be legitimate. But this time, Tise said, he thinks that Ciarmello has the real McCoy.

"I believe it is the only documentable, significant piece of furniture from the original Wright brothers camp of 1902-1903," Tise said. "In terms of understanding the Wright brothers, this table is as valuable as an entry in their diary because the table itself tells a story.

"You don’t have to surround the table with a story. This is a table that speaks."

He is preparing a report with documentation and schematic drawings to present to National Park Service curators who will determine its authenticity.

If it passes muster, Ciarmello wants to loan it to the Park Service to be exhibited at Wright Brothers National Memorial.

Tise said the table demonstrates the randomness of the camp compared with the precision and care with which the inventors approached the creation of their flyers. Those machines, he said, were "masterpieces of artistry and craftsmanship."

But the furniture reflected their cando attitude in another way.

"The table is an example of their extremely practical nature when it comes to living," he said. "This is the surface upon which they wrote their letters and their diaries."

And that’s where the brilliant brothers gathered to argue and discuss and play games as they ironed out the mysteries of flight. Unlike the tables that, say, George Washington or Thomas Jefferson used to sign historic documents, Tise said, this modest table was created by the men themselves.

"It represents entirely the nature of that spot," he said. "It was created for a very specific purpose."

It’s not clear how the Currituck family – which wants to remain anonymous – acquired the table, but Tise said that family members were aware of its origins. At one point, they had offered it to the Park Service, Tise said, but it was declined.

The table’s historic roots didn’t stop it from being used in the past for chores like laundry – it has a bleach stain and wear marks on it, he said. It has also served as a utility table in the family’s barbershop.

To the brothers’ chagrin, Tise said, much of their camp items were carted off by Outer Bankers in their traditional manner of recovering anything that appeared to be left behind.

Tise said he wouldn’t be surprised if there are more Wright items that have been stored in private homes for more than a century.

"Nobody is suggesting there was looting," he said. "They were salvaging."

ECU faculty, students work to authenticate Wright brothers artifact

The Outer Banks Sentinel, April 30th, 2008

When the Wright brothers moved to Kitty Hawk to follow the wind more than a century ago, they brought limited household supplies.

Their thoughts seemed to be focused more on glider materials than basic goods to get their camp established.

One of the crates that shipped supplies to W. Wright is believed to have been recycled by the Wrights to create the top of a wooden kitchen table, which resurfaced last month in Kitty Hawk.

A leading Wright brothers authority, Dr. Larry Tise, and several of his students at East Carolina University have worked since that time to analyze and authenticate the history of the small wooden table.

The table was shown publicly for the first time recently at the Wright Brothers National Memorial site in Kill Devil Hills.

Tise, the Wilbur and Orville Wright Distinguished Professor of History in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences, is author of the 2005 work, Hidden Images: Discovering Details in the Wright Brothers Kitty Hawk Photographs 1900-1911. In that book, Tise used modern computer technology to magnify and examine small areas of the black and white photos made by the Wright brothers to document their life and quest for flight while conducting experiments at Kitty Hawk.

Tise admitted he was skeptical when first contacted about the table by a Kill Devil Hills resident, but after close examination and further study, he said he is positive it is the same table shown in 1902 photographs of the Wright brothers' living quarters.
How Ron Ciarmello, an Outer Banks jeweler, came to own the table is most unusual. He answered a classified ad earlier this year.

A self-described aviation enthusiast, Ciarmello said he spotted the ad and called the telephone number. The person selling the table said her family had it for about a century and had used it through the years in the family laundry room and as a utility table in a family-operated barber shop. The family was moving and had decided to sell it. Ciarmello located a photo with the table in it on the Library of Congress website.

Ciarmello contacted Tise after seeing his book at the Wright Brothers National Memorial gift shop and finding that the book contained a second image of the table.

Tise asked Ciarmello to send him digital images of the table. "When I saw the photos, I was 70 percent sure it was the table, but I wanted to see it in person," Tise said.

Tise travelled to Kitty Hawk and met Ciarmello at the home of Bill Harris, whose grandfather welcomed the Wright brothers to the Outer Banks in 1900. Harris has considerable knowledge of the families in the area for the past century, which was quite helpful. They examined and studied the table for almost three hours. "The more we looked, the more we decided this could not be a fluke," Tise said.

The table consists of convincing components: the legs are from a pre-existing writing table and the top is made from the sides of a shipping crate and two remnants of ash rib material used by the Wrights to build their gliders.

The different types of wood combined with the shipping label and a distinctive exposed nail that can be seen in the photos and is in the same place in the table, helped put all the evidence together. The way the shipping crate was addressed to Wilbur Wright was consistent with others that had been documented previously by Tise.

As for the future of the table, Ciarmello said he would like it to be permanently displayed at the Wright Brothers National Memorial for the public. He has already begun discussions with the National Park Service about this possibility.

"The table, since 1902, has been in a 10-mile radius of the Wright Brothers camp, and I'd like to see that continue," Cairmello said.