Whidbey pioneer descendant returns to Maylor’s Point with a truck of pies

In 1852, Irish brothers Thomas and Samuel Maylor came to Oak Harbor, taking donated land claims on what became known as Maylor’s Point. The Maylors went on to become successful businessmen in town, building a large store, dock and homes.

While Naval Air Station Whidbey Island now owns the point, Samuel’s great-great-great granddaughter, Natalie Bleifuss, has returned to “re-pioneer” the area by way of selling pies and mixing cocktails.

Natalie started Pie Bar in Capitol Hill in 2013 with her identical twin sister, Alyssa. Her grandfather was a Navy jet fighter pilot, George Bleifuss, and she descends from former Oak Harbor Mayor Ray Maylor and the “matriarch of Whidbey,” Marjorie Maylor.

In order from the pioneering days, it goes Samuel, Alfred, Ray, Marjorie, Richard and then his daughters, Alyssa and Natalie.

Pie Bar opened with the goal of giving the “ultimate feel-good foodie experience, celebrating our local farmers, breweries, wineries and distilleries along the way.” The menu is packed with all kinds of pies — sweet and savory — such as apple, chicken, jambalaya, bananas and cream, French onion beef, chai, pumpkin white Russian and many more.

“Our first restaurant, it was so small,” Natalie said. “It was like a window.”

When it started, the sisters put their “super powers” together, Natalie said, with Alyssa baking and Natalie running the bar. The Seattle bar saw immediate success and has been expanding ever since.

In just two years, Alyssa ran the Capitol Hill location and Natalie opened a second one in Ballard. Since then, new pie bars have opened in Phinney Ridge, Snohomish and Gold Bar and a large fleet of pink, lithium-battery food trucks move up and down the Washington coast.

Natalie feels a sense of homecoming working on Maylor’s Point and believes her ancestors would be proud, she said.

But it’s more than that.

The franchise holds contracts to serve on bases for the Navy, Army, Air Force and National Guard, and military customers are some of Natalie’s favorites, she said.

“I love being on base because all the people are so kind and properly mannered,” she said. “My grandfathers were in the wars, and it just seemed like it’s just such a great niche thing that nobody is offering to veterans or military.”

Since she began trucking pies to the base three days a week, it’s been a popular addition for sailors, she said.

“I can just park in the barracks all day long and be like the busiest pie maker in the world,” she said. “Those boys are smashing this.”

Pie Bar began collaborating with the Langley pie shop Whidbey Pies for the fruit pies on the menu, she said.

For Natalie, the dream of expansion never ceases. She sees her pink pie trucks in every city, and perhaps one day even a brick-and-mortar shop on the island.

“I’m ready to go pie in the sky,” she said.

Sailors can look for Natalie’s bright pink pie trucks on the base at Ault Field and the Sea Plane Base three days a week. To find which dates, search @piebarballard on Instagram or visit piebar.com.

“It’s magical,” she said. “Yeah, I feel like I’m home.”

(Photo provided) Natalie Bleifuss, a descendant of Whidbey Pioneer Samuel Maylor, returns to Maylor Point with her business, Pie Bar.

Natalie Bleifuss, a descendent of Whidbey Pioneer Samuel Maylor, returns to Maylor Point with her business, Pie Bar. (Photo provided)

Natalie Bleifuss holds former Oak Harbor mayor and her great gradfather Ray Maylor’s special civilian pass to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. (Photo provided)