Moose Hollow a mountain shopping landmark
By FRANK BRADLEY Sentinel Writer

You wouldn't expect to find a moose hiding out in the mountains of western North Carolina, but drive through downtown Murphy and there you'll find one bigger than life.

Well, it's bigger than a real live moose you might find in Canada, Alaska or say in the state of Maine, but it's not really real. It's a replica. An unexpected surprise in these parts. Just as the furniture store that stands behind it is.

Moose Hollow is not an ordinary store. It is an event to be savored. A place to go, roam around in and enjoy as though you were on a hunting expedition, a safari. Only you don't need to bring a gun. The animals you see: elk, fox, bear and many others aren't going anywhere. They stand tall, proud like the preserved animals in a museum of natural history. And surrounding these still-life animals, you'll find an expanse of rustic elegant furniture. You'll also experience decorations made from mule deer antlers as well as Red Stag chandeliers. Moose Hollow has the largest selection of wildlife taxidermy in the Southeast, and the world's only Spotted Moose, Dave said

Dave and Penny Imeson came to Murphy several years ago. Brought their family because they thought it would be a great place to live and raise their children, and they have not been disappointed. They also bought several buildings in the downtown section, renovated them and leased them out. The old Ford auto dealership building, which they bought turned out to be too large to rent out for local business, so that's when they got the idea of putting together this unusual furniture store.

Dave said part of his vision came from a realization of the need for this type store. They had purchased a cabin themselves and had been looking for comfortable heirloom furniture that had a vintage lodge look.

"We couldn't find what we wanted, and we had traveled around a lot, so we decided to put together a store that would meet this sort of need," Dave said.

Moose Hollow is huge. More than 18,000 square feet of furniture, furnishings, wall hangings and home accessories, all with this rustic elegant look. Big. Comfortable. There's even a two-story mountain cabin built within the store that Dave designed and built. There are canoes propped on the roof of the cabin porch. Large leather upholstered couches, benches made from wild black cherry, and tables of distressed pine with hickory legs, much of the bark still preserved on them.

"Look, moma. It's a real moose. And there's a fox," I hear a young boy say as I stroll leisurely through the store.

Dave says he and his wife select all the items for the store, and that it's a mix coming from all over the country.

"We look for the highest skilled craftsmen in each area," he said. "Most of the items we've selected are designed for our customers. All or most of the materials are natural. Many people have us do their entire home ."

Dave said they had provided furnishing for folks all over the Southeast, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida and North Carolina. He also has shipped overseas to places like Italy, France and Venezuela. Locally, he has furnished offices of Western Carolina Real Estate Office and the Appalachian Land Company office in Wal-Mart in Murphy as well as entirely furnishing a $2 million home in the Ridges in Hayesville, among many others.

Dave, who grew up in Michigan, said he spent his summers going to camps in northern Michigan, where lodge furnishing had this rugged mountain/lake look, and he feels a nostalgia for those happy days. He and Penny have four children, ages: 20, 18, 14 and 11.

He said he wanted to handle quality, heirloom furniture. Furniture to be used and passed down through families, just like his own had been.

"Customers tell us that wen they have friends over to their homes that most of the time their friends comment on the furniture that they bought in our store," he said.

Whether you are out to buy furniture or just looking, you'll find a trip to Moose Hollow an exciting adventure. And if you go during this holiday season, you might see old Santa himself peeking out from behind a reindeer sled.