Anyone driving on 441 S. through Otto will notice what looks like a large salvage yard surrounding an old train depot. Stopping to peruse Culpepper’s Otto Depot results in both a tactile and visual experience.
David Culpepper has been involved in the salvage business nearly his entire life. When asked what motivated him to choose that line of work, Culpepper quickly responded, “I didn’t want to get a real job. Dad had started a marine salvage company … and I was totally unemployable after college.”
After working with his father for a year in Florida, he decided he could start up a similar type business on his own. What began as a decision to travel to India in order to purchase items for his father’s business resulted in more than 40 trips to the “land of the Hindus” and the establishment of a unique business in Otto.
Besides marine-related items such as lighting, fixtures, and wood from old and retired ships, Culpepper’s Otto Depot offers to customers old doors, windows, antique and new hardware, architectural elements, clocks, and so much more.
World traveler
Culpepper and his brother, Michael, who owns a salvage business in Texas, and his brother, Joe, who owns Old School Knife Works across the highway from the Otto Depot, mostly grew up in Macon County. The family lived in Florida for a while, but returned to Macon County and Culpepper graduated from Franklin High School in 1996.
Besides India, Culpepper must also regularly travel to Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, and China to search for unique, exotic, and varied goods and wares.
“Those are some of the places where they break apart ships and do a lot of the salvage work,” he said. “I go over there and buy mass quantities of stuff from recycled shipyards and trainyards and old buildings. I bring it back here and mostly I sell to dealers in the region – but also in California, New York, and other places.”
How the business works
Trips to find items for the Depot involve a number of stages, with various people playing different roles.
“I fill warehouses [in different countries],” he said. “Then [helpers] strip, polish, and repair [items]. Finding things and getting them here is at least a four-to-six-month process, at the fastest. Turnover time is, instead, often a year or 18 months – sometimes a couple years before I can get [a shipment].”
A dedicated group of people that Culpepper knows at various overseas locations assists with the process when he purchases items in small villages. Items are then sent to larger foreign cities, where they are loaded into shipping containers, then onto barges, and eventually shipped to the United States. Charleston, S.C., is the port of entry where most of Culpepper’s foreign purchases are unloaded from cargo ships and then trucked to Otto.
Eight to 12 shipments are received on average annually at Otto Depot.
“When I go overseas on a trip, I’m not there to buy a small amount of stuff. I end up [filling] five or so containers with stuff,” Culpepper said, describing the process.
In addition to all the items found mostly in foreign lands, Culpepper has an onsite woodshop where custom pieces can be built and offered for sale. Justin Russell, a childhood friend, is the primary source of woodworking production for hand-built doors, tables, frames, and more at the Otto Depot.
Train depot look-alike
Culpepper named his business because of its close proximity to an old railroad building. “The original depot for the Tallulah Falls Railway was located on the property,” he explained. “It was here when I was a little kid. There were some shops across the street and this was the community of the town of Otto.”
While the current building looks like it could be the original depot, the lot was nothing but dirt when purchased for its current use. However, Culpepper did not want a nondescript metal building. He desired to pay tribute to the original Tallulah Falls depot that once existed there.
After he drew some sketches on napkins and paper, Culpepper described what happened next: “I think it was my niece who sent me a picture of a depot in Oxford, Miss., so I leaned more on that.”
Construction began in 2011 and was finished by 2014. Many people have asked what the building used to be and Culpepper readily expresses satisfaction that his dream of creating a new structure that looks historic came to fruition.
If you build it, they will come
While he has individual customers to whom he sells items at retail, Culpepper stated the vast majority of his business is derived from various wholesalers far and wide who buy salvage items from him and then sell them in their own retail stores.
Stateside, Culpepper has dealt with some of the same customers for nearly 20 years. He claims that advertising is not necessary and he actually prefers operating more or less incognito.
“I’d rather work with someone I trust and people I can count on – not be as concerned about making more money.”
As for his main regional customer base, Macon County is but a small segment, maybe 5%. Culpepper estimates about 20% is from Clayton, Sylva, Asheville, and others. Bulk sales amount to about 60 to 75%, with the majority of items sold destined for south Florida, New England, and California.
“My brother (Michael) does a similar business in Texas,” said Culpepper. “If he doesn’t have something, he’ll point people my way and I do the same for him.”
When Culpepper is not at his Otto Depot, he is in meetings as a Franklin Town Council member. First elected in 2017 and reelected in 2021, he was motivated to run for the office because, “I wanted to champion, especially, outdoor activities for kids who are not athletes. When I was at Franklin High School, there wasn’t really anything outside of sports for kids to do. So, I always want to be active in providing options for kids. Having things outdoors to do keeps kids out of trouble.”