"I've always thought the castle was more akin to a tower. Anson's strange architectural aesthetics were certainly one of a kind." -- October 2009

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Stokes Castle, 1 mile south of US 50 -- Austin Lander   39.493562, -117.079677

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Original Date Visited: 10/22/09
Signed: No

Notes: In order to conquer 59, make the turn onto "Castle Road" at the south end of Austin adjacent to the Champs gas station. Castle Road is an excellent dirt road that leads up and alongside a ridge. Follow this road for a mile and you'll see the castle complete with a picnic table and a nice view of the Reese River Valley.

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The first view of Stokes Castle and Marker 59    

Exact Description:
Started in the fall of 1896 and completed in June, 1897, by Anson Phelps Stokes, mine developer, railroad magnate and member of a prominent eastern family, as a summer home for his sons, principally J.G. Phelps. After the castle (or the tower, as the Stokes family always referred to it) was completed, it was used by the family for one brief period in June and July, 1897. Since then, with one possible exception, the structure has remained unoccupied.

Stokes Castle is made of native granite, hewn and put in place by the ancestors of people still living in Austin. The huge stones were raised with a hand winch and held in position by rock wedging and clay mortar. The architectural model for the castle was a medieval tower Anson Stokes had seen and admired on an Italian campagna, near Rome. It originally had three floors, each with a fireplace, plate glass view windows, balconies on the second and third floors, and a battlemented terrace on the roof. It had plumbing very adequate for the times and was sumptuously furnished.

The structure stands as an abiding monument to the local men who built it and to those who helped develop the mines of Austin.

Stokes Castle in the early 1900s.

Stokes Castle and the lonely views of Central Nevada.

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