All aboard to Key West: the true tale that reads better than fiction

Here’s the plot line: One of the richest men of the Gilded Age decides to build a railroad through hundreds of miles of Florida coastline, creating luxury hotels along the route, then go one better by taking his train across hundreds of miles of water. He would take it to the place where America either begins or ends, depending on how you set your compass: Key West.

An impossible feat, he was assured. Advice he would wisely—or not—ignore.

This is the true tale of what Henry Flagler, the man who made John D. Rockefeller and himself Croesus-rich through Standard Oil, determined to do in the early 1900s. Ask a Conch, a native of the Florida Keys, about Flagler’s Over-Sea Railroad, and he or she may tell you where you can still see some of the grandly arched bridges, or how to find the one work camp still standing.

But for most of us—even those of us who have lived in Florida awhile—the story was unknown until Les Standiford decided to tell the tale. His book, Last Train to Paradise, first appeared in 2002, sold some 200,000 copies and this year was selected for Palm Beach County Reads. 2012 makes the one-hundredth anniversary of the completion of Flagler’s impossible dream.

Les is a longtime Miamian, a captivating novelist, and a brilliant non-fiction storyteller whom I’m honored to call a friend. He has, in fact, agreed to inscribe copies of the centennial edition of Last Train for Levenger customers. (If you hurry, you can get one inscribed for Father’s Day.) 

Levenger Press editor Mim Harrison just finished reading this edition. She talked with Les about his writing of the feat once known as Flagler’s Folly. Come sit in on the conversation.

—Steve

Levenger Press:  There is much talk these days about enhanced eBooks, where videos and other links are embedded in the electronic book. I found reading your centennial print edition just as satisfying because of the preponderance of maps and vintage photos. Maybe more so, because of the immersive experience that print books engender. How did these old photographs influence you as you were writing the story?

Les Standiford: When I am writing, I am pretty much living inside my head, reinhabiting my own memories, and imagining being in another time and place. To me the archival photographs are an interesting complement to the words in the book, but to tell you the truth, I sought out most of them after the book was finished. I think some of the photographs are really spectacular illustrations of places and people referred to in the narrative, but what primarily influenced me during the writing were the written accounts of workers, storm survivors, Keys residents, etc.

LP: Even though many people who’ve been to Key West find it paradisiacal, did you intend your title of Last Train to Paradise to have a certain irony?

Les: Not really. While I understand the laments of some who have witnessed the T-shirtification of Duval Street over the past decades, there is no erasing the essential physical beauty of Key West. I think the enduring appeal of the book is attributable to the fact that most visitors still find the Keys and Key West a paradise.  

LP: That famous Key West resident, Ernest Hemingway, makes a cameo appearance in your book. Why do you think he never wrote a story that brought in the building of the Over-Sea Railroad?

Les: That's an interesting question. I can only guess that it is because Hemingway was never much of an historical novelist and was always drawn to subjects that he had personally experienced. He wrote powerful journalistic accounts of the demise of the railroad in the hurricane of 1935, but even that never turned up in the fiction so far as I am aware. An interesting modern-day novel that uses the ‘35 storm and references the Over-Sea Railroad is The Cypress House, by Michael Koryta.

LP: You knew the general story before you started your writing. What were the biggest surprises as you got into your research?

Les: For one thing, I did not realize that Henry Flagler had been the number 2 man in the making of Standard Oil. And I had no idea, really, of the immensity and difficulty of building that railroad across the water, nor did I really appreciate the terror of the night the Labor Day storm swept across the Matecumbes [Keys]. Researching and writing the book made me appreciate this aspect of history—and history in general—far more than I ever had. Trying to recreate such events with the same force and power that I have always tried to bring to my fiction has made me a better writer and a more fully informed person.

LP:  If Last Train were a movie, who would be the stars (other than Key West herself, of course)?

Les: Another interesting question. Maybe George Clooney as Flagler and Johnny Depp as Theodore Roosevelt, Flagler's arch-enemy. Kate Winslet for Mary Lily Kenan Flagler, and Charlize Theron for Ida Alice Shourds Flagler. Robert Downey as Hemingway. Roll ‘em!

Now to you, dear reader—have you been to Key West, and had you heard about the Over-Sea Railroad? I’d love to hear. Just click on the Comments link below with your submission. (If you’re reading this as an email, click here and you'll connect to Comments).

Comments

[Mary Ellen Lapp]

As a newer resident of Key West, I can appreciate the magnitude of Flagler's accomplishment. Les has chronicled his realized dream perfectly. I feel fortunate to live amid the rich history of this beautiful community. Looking forward to that movie!

[Beth Van Vorst Gray]

I have a love affair with Key West. My first visit was in 1975 when Sunset Point was still behind the row of shops and next to the large hotel there. We dashed our way across Florida in time to "see the sunset at Sunset Point."

Never having been there, I thought my travel mate was a bit loose in the head. We got there early . . . not my usual pattern . . .and we sat on a log, shoes off, with the ocean lapping at our feet. Naked, beautiful little children were playing along the seashore, their laughter and the soft lapping of the water being the the only noise we heard. I saw my first sailboat in which the mast was held in place by its occupant, several colorful sails streaking across the horizon between two large floating mangrove islands, their wake splashing shards of broken colors where they crossed the sun's path. The world seemed to stand still becuse it was so beautiful and restful.

Soon, the sun started glowing, an intense fiery ball of orange and red, reflecting its track on the water all the way to our feet and the blue of the sky became dense as well. Then, without warning, the sun plummeted below the horizon.

At that moment, I heard a collective "Oooh!' behind me, a crowd of people holding their breath at the last sight as was I. Silently, the entire area behind us had filled with people who had come to share this daily blessing.

Then it was night.

[Beth Van Vorst Gray]

My last trip to Key West was nine years ago, when my husband and I were married, at the age of 69. We were guided to the elusive and beautiful "Secret Garden," another world just a few steps from the main street.

There were orchids in the trees, multi-colored parrots in cages within the small park (it is also a refuge for abandoned parrots), and we were married in a small clearing in this jungle paradise.

No longer was it the same Sunset Point I so enjoyed in 1975 (see earlier posting); the hotel on the shore was still there -- the Pilot House, I think? but huge cruise ships were moored where the old Sunset Point had been, and the spiffy new hotels with cascading terraces and balconies facing the west was filled with tourists listening to Jimmy Buffett and drinking margaritas as they saluted the end of the day. The mangrove islands were still there; the one-man sailboats were splashing into and out of the golden-red trail the sun cast across the water.Sunset in Key West is an awesome gift of nature, even gilded over with the trappings of tourism.

I bought Keno sandals for my family back home, as I had done every trip I've taken to Key West; ate at Louie's Crab House and Blue Heaven. Not the same. but it felt like, smelled like, and WAS Key West.

[Derek Lyons]

I have been to the Keys, but never so far down as Key West. Growing up in Florida, the story of Flagler's Folly was a familiar one. I knew more about it than most, though, my Dad being a Florida history buff and having a family friend who wrote a number of Florida history books.

(Alas, Dad passed back in January... He'd have loved to have seen this.)

[Cynthia Peterson]

I loved this book and felt it accurately captured the significance of Flagler's vision for Florida. As an archivist and longtime resident of Florida, I appreciated the extensive research done with primary source documents; the events were captured more vividly through the actual words of the historical figures.

I was surprised by the relationship of the planned railroad to the Panama Canal (celebrating its 100th Anniversay in 2014). If the port in Key West had been constructed as perceived, its economic impact on Florida would have changed our history.

The Flagler-built Ponce de Leon Hotel is celebrating its 125th Anniversay in 2013 and displaying original architectural drawings and details of the building. A must-see for those interested in the Gilded Era of architecture.

Cynthia Peterson

[Steve Leveen]

Dear Beth, Mary Ellen, Derek and Cynthia,

Wow...thank you for sharing your memories of the Keys and insights with such beautiful words. You are inspiring.

Steve

[Debbie Dozier]

I have lived in Florida my whole life, moving to the Dade County area when I was two. As a child we often made the drive down to the Upper and Lower Keys when the bridges were still two-lane and NARROW. My father was a history buff and never failed to point out the area where one of the survivors of the Labor Day storm had lashed himself to a palm tree when his shack at one of the work camps had blown away. Dad also always made a point of telling us that the majority of the workers were WWI veterans. As I grew older, I would spend as much time in the Keys as I could...fishing, boating, diving...OK, and some drinking too! I have since moved to the west coast of Florida, but still miss the beautiful clear waters only found in the Keys. That area is rich in history, quirkiness, and intrigue. Several years ago I purchased "Hemingway's Hurricane" by Phil Scott that some of your readers may find informative and a companion piece to the current offering by Mr. Standiford.