Reserve is a village in Catron County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 289 as of the 2010 census,[1] down from 387 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Catron County.[2] Currently the village has two grocery stores, a hardware store, a bar, fairgrounds, and a health clinic. It is the site where Elfego Baca held off a gang of Texan cowboys who wanted to kill him for arresting cowboy Charles McCarty.
Sitting at an elevation of 6887 feet Quemado is located on Highway 60 about 2 1/2 to 3 hours from Albuquerque down highway 40.
Quemado is also the Spanish word for burned and is located in an extinct volcano area. The community was first settled in 1880 by Jose Antonio Padilla who brought sheep and started the stock raising industry. Quemado was also once famous for a large contingent of Rodeo celebrities.
You’ll find it on most maps, in west-central New Mexico, in Catron County. The way you get there is via U.S. 60 and about 30 minutes east of Queamdo. There’s almost no other way to get there, unless you own a helicopter. In a nutshell Pie Town is a colorful town with quite a number of event and features including the Pie Town Pie (what else) Festival and DanCyn’ Windmill Musuem.
If you’re looking for a place to retreat to, where there’s not a lot of people around, where you can enjoy peace and quite then you hardly do any better then living in Catron County, New Mexico. The county covers almost 7,000 square miles and is comprised of mostly rugged mountainous terrain. Less than 20% of the land in Catron County is privately owned with the balance of the land being public. Reserve is the County seat and largest town in the county and boasts a population of about 400.