Author Meredith Nicolson’s Connection to Culver

In 2021 the St. Margaret’s Guild Decorator’s Show House and Gardens will be “The Columns” at 5417 N. Meridian Street in Indianapolis. The home was built in 1930 and it’s first occupant was Meredith Nicolson, Hoosier author and diplomat. Mr. Nicolson is probably best known for his 1905 best seller, “The House of a Thousand Candles” which was inspired by a stay on the East Shore of Lake Maxinkuckee, home to the Culver Academies. In the book, Nicolson changed the Culver Academies to an Episcopal girls school, St. Agatha’s. It sold over 250,000 copies, more than Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle.” A few years later he wrote another book set in Culver, “Rosalind at Redgate”

The cottage, referred to as “The House of a Thousand Candles” quietly sits on the East Shore with views of the Culver Academies still. There is a wonderful article by the home’s owner. You can read the article by clicking on the link below, with special thanks to the Indiana Historical Society for granting us permission to link to the article originally published in the Summer 2007 issue of “Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History.”

Find Culver partnered with Sassy Green Interiors at the 2021 St. Margaret's Guild Decorator Show House to promote Meredith Nicholson's connection to Culver. Their room showcases vintage Culver artwork and memorabilia in Room 17 of the tour! Photography by Sarah Shields Photography

Nicolson is included in of a group of Hoosier authors who spent time at Lake Maxinkuckee and were inspired by the setting. Others included Booth Tarkington, James Whitcomb Riley, Lew Wallace and Kurt Vonnegut among others. More history can be found here:

Interestingly, the home’s second owner was Warren Fairbanks, son of Teddy Roosevelt’s Vice President, Warren Charles Fairbanks. During his tenure as Vice President, Fairbanks visited Culver on July 20, 1905 and reviewed the Summer Naval School. He was only one of two Vice Presidents to visit Culver while in office during the 20th century.