HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
An 1898 Fred Harvey railroad hotel, site of the first Rough Riders reunion, restored in 2019
524 Railroad Avenue, Las Vegas, NM 87701
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Restored boutique hotel with a bar and restaurant; room rates vary by season.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Restored two-story 1898 Mission Revival hotel along the railroad tracks in Las Vegas, NM.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1898 · Fred Harvey Company Harvey House · First Mission Revival Building in New Mexico · First Rough Riders Reunion (1899) · National Register of Historic Places
The Castaneda was built in 1898-99 alongside the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway tracks in Las Vegas, New Mexico, as one of Fred Harvey's trackside Harvey House hotels. Pasadena architect Frederick Roehrig designed it in the Mission Revival style, and it is recognized as the first Mission Revival building in New Mexico and the first Mission-style Harvey House. The hotel formally opened on January 1, 1899.
Its most-remembered moment came that June. Theodore Roosevelt, then governor-elect of New York and recently returned from leading the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War, attended the first reunion of the regiment at the Castaneda. The event tied the hotel permanently to Roosevelt and to one of the period's most celebrated military units.
Like many Harvey Houses, the Castaneda's fortunes followed the railroad's. As long-distance passenger rail declined through the 20th century, the hotel faded, eventually standing largely vacant and deteriorating for many years.
In 2014, preservationist Allan Affeldt — known for restoring the La Posada Harvey House in Winslow, Arizona — purchased the Castaneda. He spent several years and several million dollars on a restoration, and the hotel reopened in 2019 with a working bar, dining room, and guest rooms. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sources
The Castaneda's haunting reputation grew during its long vacancy and carried into its restored life. The most frequently described figure is a woman in early-1900s formalwear seen near the hotel's staircase, an apparition reported by guests and visitors and recounted in travel coverage of the property.
Room 310 has its own small body of stories. Local reporting framed around the question of whether anything lingers there has made it the room most associated with guest reports, though accounts vary and many stays pass without incident.
The hotel's paranormal profile was raised nationally when Ghost Adventures filmed an episode there, 'Haunted Harvey House,' broadcast in 2015 while the building was still largely unrestored. The crew's investigation is the most-cited media reference for the Castaneda's reputation.
The reports stay close to apparition sightings and atmosphere rather than documented, repeatable phenomena, and the restored hotel presents its history first — the Harvey House era and the Rough Riders reunion — with the ghost stories as a secondary draw for the curious.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Sleep in a restored 1898-99 Fred Harvey railroad hotel — the first Mission Revival building in New Mexico and the site of the first Rough Riders reunion in 1899. Owner Allan Affeldt's restoration reopened the property in 2019 with a bar, the dining room, and period-styled rooms. Book through the hotel's website.
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Colonel Jesse Lincoln Driskill, a Tennessee-born cattle baron who supplied beef to the Confederate Army and later the Texas Rangers, opened The Driskill Hotel on December 20, 1886. Its first event, two weeks after opening, was the inaugural ball for Texas Governor Sul Ross. Driskill sold the hotel in 1888 after severe drought devastated his cattle herds and died in 1890. The hotel has hosted every Texas governor's inaugural ball since 1887.
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