As one of more than 60 diverse historic houses, museums, and collections that comprise Great American Treasures,
the Neill-Cochran House Museum is our Texas treasure.
The NSCDA-TX promotes our national and state heritage through education, patriotic service, historic preservation, and the ownership and operation of the Neill-Cochran House Museum. Since purchasing the property in 1958, Texas Dames have initiated and overseen extensive restoration work both inside and to the exterior of the house, opened the house to the public as a museum, and have continued to manage the property and staff the museum through its ongoing stewardship and financial support.
This 1856 Greek Revival house in central Austin is fundamental to all we do in Texas – hosting naturalization ceremonies, educating adults and children about Austin’s history, and preserving a historical treasure that tells Austin’s story. The separate slave quarters on the property is the only extant housing for enslaved people still existing in Austin.
Great American Treasures, an NSCDA museum alliance comprised of over 60 or the NSCDA properties or collections, is committed to preserving the history of America’s origins and to honoring the forebears responsible for her founding.
The NSCDA actively participates in preserving and operating more than 80 historical sites or collections in the United States. Forty-one of those properties are owned outright by the Corporate Societies of the NSCDA and thirteen more include museum collections owned by the Dames. NSCDA members provide substantial volunteer and financial support to thirty more properties. These diverse historic houses/museums/collections encompass America’s history from the 17th century until the early 20th century.
The NSCDA-TX joins the 43 other Corporate Societies of the NSCDA in supporting 3 notable historic properties:
Dumbarton House
The NSCDA headquarters in Washington D.C. was purchased in 1928. It is one of America’s outstanding museum houses of the Federal Period and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Gunston Hall
This 550 acre plantation at Mason Neck, Virginia, is a National Historic Landmark. It was built in the mid 1700’s by George Mason, author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, upon which the National Bill of Rights was modeled. The NSCDA administers Gunston Hall.
Sulgrave Manor
The English ancestral home of George Washington, built it 1539, is located 70 miles from London. The NSCDA established an endowment for Sulgrave in the early 1900s and today, the NSCDA is involved in overseeing the endowment and other fundraising activities in the United States to benefit the Manor.