There are few things I love more than discovering unusual places. When I read that there was a town in Wyoming that had a population of 1, I knew it was my kind of place. Imagine how loud you must be able to play your music there without anyone complaining?
buford liesabout a half hour drive from the state capitol of #Cheyenne, straight off Interstate 80 and can be a *touch* difficult to find, given its size and all. However, there are signs around, including the one that everyone stops to get their picture taken in front of.
As well as being the smallest town in the US (it even has a zip code, although I'm fairly certain the Postal workers probably know where it is), #Buford is also the highest town along the I-80 in the United States, between San Francisco to the West and New York to the East.
For a tiny place, it certainly has a lot going for it.
Buford's History
Buford's early days were as a trading post and comprises of a single house, a gas station and a post office...you know, for the massive amount of mail it must receive. Imagine working in that Post Office? You'd lose your mind unless the sole resident has some sort of mail order business going. The Post Office, perhaps not surprisingly, is no longer there.
In more recent years, the town gas station and services was taken over by a #Vietnamese owner, who opened up Phin Deli n the site. #PhinDeli is a kind of motorway services station-coffee house-souvenir store, which is really wonderful inside and out. The service station even has public toilets, which I was absolutely not expecting.
The little notes left around the conveniences are also extremely amusing, so it's fair to say the owner has a sense of humour.
In its heyday, Buford boasted a population of 2,000 people, which must have made getting gas in that single station a bit of a nightmare during rush hour... The entire town consists of almost 10 acres of land, so it certainly does have a lot of space to fit in more residents.
I'm seriously thinking about increasing the population by 100%, but I'm concerned that me and the other guy might not get on. What if he's tee total and doesn't like country music? What on earth will I do then??
Anyway, in 2004 the post office closed and then the owner of Buford decided to sell up and move. Presumably, he was lonely, but I'm not entirely sure.
The entire town was sold at auction in 2012 and was quickly snapped up by a new owner for less than $1M. A complete bargain for 10 acres of beautiful Wyoming countryside, if you ask me. The new guy soon opened up Phin Deli, which imports gorgeous coffee from Vietnam and sells it in massive quantities to curious visitors and thirsty long distance truckers.
Buford Today
Although Buford is a quick stop on the Interstate (like, a very quick stop...), it's well worth seeing what a one person town looks like and the convenience store is way better than others I've seen in bigger towns. It's so bright and vibrant inside and the owner is very friendly and happy to chat to you about what he does all day and how life in the smallest town in the states is on a day to day basis.
I assume he relies on conversations with curious visitors to maintain his sanity, but I'm really not sure.
Don't panic too much about the owner though, so from the look of it, he's not short of visitors stopping by to the get their photos taken with his town sign, or wonder at the fact that he can literally roll out of bed into work in the morning. He's only a half hour from the capital city of #Cheyenne, so he's not quite as remote as he seems. Plus, he seems to be enjoying himself and that's what counts, right?
Buford sits off I-80 between the cities of Laramie and Cheyenne.
