TOUR OF THE HOUSE

Entering the wide hallway, one first sees the simple,
classic lines of the Greek influenced woodwork.

The Maria Neville Brown French Parlor contains
a chandelier, candelabra, sconces, and cache pots by
Sevres. A Bouille desk and pedestals complement the
Sevres porcelain. An elaborate table containing miniatures
on ivory of Madame DuBarry and her contemporaries dominates the room.

The dining room is furnished with traditional English
pieces, based on the styles of the late 18th and 19th centuries.

Separated by massive hung doors rather than the
traditional sliding doors, the double parlors serve as
sitting rooms. A Victorian melodian sits by
the window. A fire screeen stands between fire place and settee.
On a birdcage table is a tea set of pink lusterware.

Throughout the ground level, the floors are
hardwood, added at the turn of the century by the Cochran
family. The stairs, newel posts, banisters, and
the flooring upstairs were original Bastrop pine installed by Cook.
The square-headed handmade nails are used only on the stairs
and the flooring. Allover woodworking is put
together with wooden pegs.


Eighteenth Century Bedroom

Upstairs are three bedrooms and the library.
The library contains many privately printed biographies
of Texans and records of Texas families. There is a unique
collection of cookbooks dating from the days of the Republic of Texas.
The bedrooms reflect the varying tastes of Texans in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Rock House Dependency has been restored
and the downstairs is furnished as an early Texas Kitchen.
Upstairs is a bedroom which contains a four-poster bed made by Governor Pease.

The Colonial Dames were first to organize the movement
to select a state flower. It was the painting by Miss Mode Walker
that influenced the legislators to pass the " Bluebonnet Bill", March 7, 1901.
The painting hangs in the Neill-Cochran House Museum in Austin, Texas.

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