[2] The Indiana State Museum operates the historic site, which is open to the public and offers guided tours of the home and studio.

[3] Theodore Clement Steele (1847–1926) was a member of the famous Hoosier Group of American regional impressionist painters that also included William Forsyth, J. Ottis Adams, Richard B. Gruelle, and Otto Stark.

He attended Waveland Collegiate Institute in Montgomery County, Indiana, and briefly studied painting in Chicago and Cincinnati before moving to Indianapolis to become a portrait painter.

In 1907 he purchased 60 acres (24 hectares) of land approximately one and a half miles south of Belmont, between Bloomington and Nashville, Indiana, and had a hilltop studio and home built on the property.

In 1911 they purchased additional acreage to increase their property to 211 acres (85 hectares) of land, and made further improvements that included an enlarged home surrounded by beautiful gardens, a barn-sized studio and art gallery, and several other outbuildings.

[1][8] Following Steele's death in 1926, Selma and her sister, Edith Newbacher, continued to reside on the Brown County property, but they struggled financially.

Selma managed the artist's studio, rented out cabins on the property, and sold farm produce and her husband's paintings to earn cash.

[1][8] The T. C. Steele State Historic Site, the property's present-day name, offers visitors guided tours of the home and large studio.

It is open to the public, Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.[13] The 211-acre property includes several structures, landscaped grounds and gardens, five hiking trails, and a nature preserve.

[14] Inspired by the breezes blowing through the cottage's screened porches, T. C. and Selma Steele named their Brown County home the House of the Singing Winds.

[8][16] Peter Dewar, a Scottish immigrant who settled in Brown County, built the two-story log cabin around 1875 at another location as a wedding gift to his son.