Imagine purchasing a home, and having your very own totem pole located outside your home! That was the case for Debbie and her hubby Keith when they purchased 12 Old Orchard Road back in 2009. It had been known as the ‘Murphy’ or ‘Totem Pole House’, and the Murphy’s had lived there for over 30 years raising their 6 children! The totem pole was originally brought back from Alaska some 80 plus years ago, and for many years preschoolers from the surrounding schools would take a field trip to the totem pole in order to learn about Alaska.
However, it also became part of the local Iona College fraternity hazing activity, and would be ‘borrowed’ each year with the home owners getting the phone call the following morning, informing them where to find it.
Debbie and Keith got tired of retrieving it, and in being respectful of the beautiful antiquity, decided to place it in the family room (cutting out floorboard, and carefully installing new floorboards around the treasure).
Debbie just sold her home for $862,000 (homes in the area sell on average at $791,000 approx. at this present time) , and the new home owners did not want the Totem Pole, so Debbie spent some $4000 to carefully have it removed and floor boards replaced, and shipped it to her new home in another state. She would say that the Totem Pole was associated with love, Karma, and she wanted to respect it in every way.
Debbie is a lovely person, and she has certainly accomplished that.
New Rochelle is GREAT!
