Taylor built an inn atop the shell midden to attract visitors traveling by shallow-draft steamboat from Palatka, the furthest upstream that ocean-going vessels could navigate. Orange groves were planted, and a gristmill established, together with a sawmill to cut Southern live oak, prized by the U.S. Navy for warships. In 1843, Enterprise became county seat of "Mosquito County". The latter was renamed as "Orange County" in 1845, and the county seat was moved to Mellonville. An epidemic believed to be smallpox claimed Taylor's oldest daughter and nine of his slaves in 1842, and he left in 1847.