Taylor boys went to Cuba…but never really left N.C.

Diversification was a strategy that the Taylor brothers of Sea Level, N.C., employed with great success after World War II. 

The Taylors – Dan, William, Alfred and Leslie – created the West India Fruit and Steamship (WIF&SS) Company in 1946 as a railcar ferry service between the Port of Palm Beach, Fla., and Havana, Cuba. 

WIF&SS Co. offered the “superior all-rail route to Cuba,” as “freight from anywhere in North America could be routed to Cuban consignees” without leaving its original railcar. 

The very first vessel acquired for the WIF&SS fleet was the Grand Haven, a former Grand Trunk Railway rail ship that once ferried train cars regularly across Lake Michigan between Milwaukee, Wis., and Grand Haven, Mich.

The Grand Haven had been relieved of service in 1931, but the Taylor brothers were delighted to find her in 1946. 

Built in 1903 by Craig Shipbuilding Co. of Toledo, Ohio, the Grand Haven was still sturdy and strong enough to carry 26 railcars brimming with freight. 

The Taylors “also dabbled a bit” in travel and tourism in Florida, according to historian Rodney Kemp of Morehead City, N.C. He tells the story: 

“One of the Taylor brothers was in Palm Beach working on his boat one day in 1950, and at the end of the day, he looked like he’d been working on his boat all day,” Kemp said.

Rodney Kemp

 

“The front desk clerk at the swanky 550-room Palm Beach Biltmore Hotel denied Mr. Taylor’s request to book a room in the hotel. Mr. Taylor said he’d be back later…as soon as he bought the place.”

“Paid $1.7 million…cash on the barrelhead,” Kemp said. “And yes, of course, the clerk was dismissed.”

 

The Taylors had been quick to envision Cuba as an emerging tourism destination for U.S. travelers. After World War II, they also purchased the City of Havana, a surplus U.S. warship.

The Taylors had the vessel transformed into an air-conditioned luxury liner, with spacious and comfortable lounges and cafes, capable of transporting 500 passengers. Their personal vehicles were loaded on the lower decks.

 

The City of Havana could safely make the 90-mile journey from Key West, Fla., to Havana in seven hours. 

U.S. tourism traffic evaporated in 1959 after dictator Fidel Castro seized control of the Cuban government. Methodically, the Taylor brothers began to very quietly implement their Cuban exit strategy. 

Looking back, “those Sea Level boys made lots of $MONEY out of Cuba,” said Thom Styron, a Carteret County businessman. Yet, it was like the Taylor brothers never left the place they grew up. 

Everyone in the entire county was giddy in 1957 when news broke that the Taylor brothers paid $350,000 to purchase the 106-room Bogue Sound Club in Morehead City. They renamed the posh, four-story hotel as the Morehead Biltmore.

 

The resort villa had been built in 1928 by William Benjamin Blades Jr., a wealthy real estate developer from New Bern. His family made a fortune in the timber and lumber industries. 

The Taylors promptly named the hotel’s formal ballroom as the “Sea Level Room” in honor of their hometown in Down East Carteret County. Life was good.

 

At some point, the Taylors sold their shares to Winton Fountain of Goldsboro. Ownership was transferred in early 1969 to Frank Roger Page Jr. of Winston-Salem. The property was unoccupied and undergoing renovation…when fire broke out early on Nov. 12, 1969. 

The entire building was quickly consumed with flames. Only the hotel swimming pool survived. It was repurposed for a time as a neighborhood skateboard training site. 

Much of the old hotel property, overlooking Bogue Sound at the end of Mansfield Parkway, is now developed as The Bluffs, a condominium complex.