Yun Seon-do (1587–1671), known by his pen name Gosan, was one of the representative poets and statesmen of the Joseon dynasty. After placing first in the preliminary round of a special state examination in 1628 (the sixth year of King Injo's reign), he became the tutor of Prince Bongnim, who would later ascend the throne as King Hyojong. Once enthroned, Hyojong gifted his former teacher a house located in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. In 1668 (the ninth year of King Hyeonjong's reign), Yun Seon-do had this house relocated to its present site in Haenam, and it became Nogudang.
Set against Mount Deogeumsan, the site is regarded as one of the finest examples of good feng shui in the country. Behind the house lies a grove of Japanese nutmeg-yew trees; when the wind blows through it, it is said to sound like spring rain falling — hence the name Nogudang, meaning "House of Green Rain." The Gosan Relics Museum, part of this more-than-500-year-old ancestral seat of the Ocho-eun branch of the Haenam Yun clan, displays roughly 4,600 artifacts handed down through the family, including Yun Seon-do's own handwriting and a self-portrait painted by his great-grandson, Yun Du-seo — a work designated Korean National Treasure No. 240. A single house a king gave his teacher grew, across three generations, into an ancestral seat holding treasures of national significance.