From 1908 to 1939 Belén's Harvey House Dining Room offered hearty fare and good service at reasonable prices to travelers heading into the Wild West. Today, the historic building houses the Harvey House Museum, which preserves Santa Fe Railway and Fred Harvey organization memorabilia. Visit the famous Harvey Girls' dormitories and the Belén Model Railroad Club's creations. Belén is located 30 miles south of Albuquerque off I-25. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Luna Mansion Restuarant
Hungry? Continue south from Belén to Los Lunas, to the Luna Mansion Restaurant.
In 1881, when the New Mexico & Southern wanted to lay track through Antonio José Luna's hacienda, he asked that the company build him a new house of his own design. The resulting Victorian-style Luna-Otero Mansion is still standing today and operates as a restaurant serving elegant, American fare. Several ghosts are also rumored to haunt the mansion, including the late Josefita Otero who once resided there.
Southern
Deming
In March 8, 1881, in Deming, a silver spike joined the Southern Pacific Railroad to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, creating the second transcontinental railway. Although there's relatively little to see where this monumental collision was marked, the town of Deming owes its existence to the railway. Named after Mary Deming Crocker, wife of a railroad tycoon, Deming was officially founded after the meeting of the two railways. A Harvey House quickly followed, and part of that original building still stands next to the town's Amtrak depot today.
