Dedham Nickerson lived in Jamaica Plain until 1878 when he purchased the home of a failed Dedham lawyer, Edward S. Rand, near Connecticut Corner in Dedham. He soon became civically involved, running for selectman, and making charitable contributions to causes around town. Four years after moving to Dedham, he wanted to build a new house on the highest point of land along Common Street. To do so would require moving the street, which the
Norfolk County Commission refused to do. Around the same time, the Dedham Board of Assessors dramatically increased his taxes to a level he felt was unfair. Partially as a result of these two setbacks, Nickerson sold the house to his brother George and he moved to an estate on
Buzzards Bay in Marion, Massachusetts.
Marion In Marion, Nickerson bought a large estate known as "Great Hill," with 40 rooms and seven square miles of forests and winding driveways. He undertook an extensive remodeling of the waterfront home, adding conservatories and stables, and redecorated it with expensive furnishings. It was here that he would host president
Grover Cleveland and convinced him to purchase the nearby Gray Gables estate.
Riverdale Nickerson quarreled with Marion officials over his taxes as well and, three years before his death, moved back to Dedham. There, he purchased Riverdale, a estate on the
Charles River that was the childhood home of
John Lothrop Motley. , as seen in 2017 In 1886, he commissioned the architectural firm of
Henry Hobson Richardson to build him a castle on the estate and hired
Frederick Law Olmsted's firm to do the landscaping. It was constructed by
Norcross Brothers. Olmsted determined the exact spot upon a hill for the home, laid out the roads on the property and changed the direction of the road rather than cut down a favored tree.
Russell Sturgis called it "one of the best pieces existing of the peculiar Romanesque sculpture of semi-Byzantine character which Mr. Richardson's work introduced to this community." The castle has a number of interesting architectural elements but its best known is its numerous secret passages and "legendary underground mazes and hallways". At Nickerson's request, Richardson also included a number of unusual features to add both protection and entertainment. Below the study was a wading pool, rifle range, and a dungeon. The escape routes and secret hiding places were presumably added because Nickerson was concerned that people "would try to murder him for his abundant wealth." It was built on top of a rocky hill "so that the Castle and the River appeared magically to carriages or cars arriving through the forested Pine Street entrance." The home cost $300,000 to build and $200,000 to furnish. While the mansion was being built, Nickerson lived in a home on the property that once belonged to
Joseph Guild. ==Philanthropy==