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.^[2][1] He soon became civically involved, running for selectman, and making charitable contributions to causes around town.^[2][1][8]

Four years after moving to Dedham, he wanted to build a new house on the highest point of land along Common Street.^[2] To do so would require moving the street, which the Norfolk County Commission refused to do.^[2][1] Around the same time, the Dedham Board of Assessors dramatically increased his taxes to a level he felt was unfair.^[1][2] 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.^[2][9][1]

Marion

In Marion, Nickerson bought a large estate known as "Great Hill," with 40 rooms and seven square miles of forests and winding driveways.^[1] He undertook an extensive remodeling of the waterfront home, adding conservatories and stables, and redecorated it with expensive furnishings.^[1] It was here that he would host president Grover Cleveland and convinced him to purchase the nearby Gray Gables estate.^[1]

Riverdale

Nickerson quarreled with Marion officials over his taxes as well and, three years before his death, moved back to Dedham.^[1] There, he purchased Riverdale, a 600-acre (2.4 km²) estate on the Charles River that was the childhood home of John Lothrop Motley.^[2][1][10]

In 1886, he commission 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.^[11][1] It was constructed by Norcross Brothers.^[1] Olmsted determined the exact spot upon a hill for the home,^[5] laid out the roads on the property and changed the direction of the road rather than cut down a favored tree.^[5] 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."^[12]

The castle has a number of interesting architectural elements but its best known is its numerous secret passages^[13] and "legendary underground mazes and hallways".^[14][5] At Nickerson's request, Richardson also included a number of unusual features to add both protection and entertainment.^[5] Below the study was a wading pool, rifle range, and a dungeon.^[5] 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."^{[5][lower-alpha 2]}

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."^[15] The home cost $300,000 to build and $200,000 to furnish.^[2] While the mansion was being built, Nickerson lived in a home on the property that once belonged to Joseph Guild.^[16]