If you are passing through, you can always get pie in Pie Town. Pie Town, New Mexico, was settled like many other towns in the western US when a would-be prospector found no gold and ended up doing something completely different. In this case, it was selling fruit pies to cowboys. The adventurous settlers who established Pie Town were protective of the name.
At this early point in its history, Pie Town displayed the attitude that still defines the town. In the old days, resident Nita Larronde says, Pie Town was barely on road maps. The town had to petition just to get a post office. To secure one, Pie Town residents were asked, in 1927, to suggest three other names for their settlement. “The name was beneath the dignity of the post office,” Larronde says. “But the people of Pie Town decided, ‘No, we’re Pie Town. You can take your post office and go to hell.’”
Pie Town has a population of 67 and three pie shops, all launched in the last 27 years. Oh yeah, you betcha they have a pie festival. Read about this small but quirky town (and its pies) at Atlas Obscura.
(Image credit: Sophie Putka)