About 1896, Dixon had a breakdown caused by overwork. He had lived on 94th St. in Manhattan and on Staten Island, but did not like the weather, "and the doctor had come to see us every week". The doctor said he should "live in the country". Now wealthy, in 1897 Dixon purchased "a stately colonial home, Elmington Manor", in Gloucester County, Virginia. The house had 32 rooms and the grounds were . He had his own post office, Dixondale. The same year he had an steam yacht built, which required a crew of "two men and a boy"; he named it Dixie. He says in his autobiography that one year he paid income tax on $210,000. "I felt...I had more money than I could possibly spend."