In the mid-19th century, when railroads were king, Baltimore's Garrett family ruled the rails. Evergreen, their home for two generations, is a superb example of Gilded Age architecture set on 26 landscaped acres in Baltimore and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The museum's 48 opulent rooms contain over 50,000 of the Garretts' belongings, including post-Impressionist paintings, drawings by Degas and Picasso, Chinese porcelain, Japanese lacquerware, the Garrett Library of rare books, and one of the largest private collections of Louis Comfort Tiffany art glass. The Garretts, patrons of the arts both regionally and abroad, made Evergreen a center for creative thought and expression where artists enjoyed the family's generosity and hospitality, working in residence and performing in the mansion's ornate Leon Bakst-designed theatre.

Restored and opened as a museum in 1989 by The Johns Hopkins University and the Evergreen House Foundation, Evergreen continues the Garretts' legacy of philanthrophy, scholarship, and patronage through a year-round calendar of tours, exhibitions, artists' residencies, lectures, and performances.