Born in Long Creek, North Carolina, on December 12, 1892, Minnie Evans grew up in nearby Wilmington. In 1908 she married Julius Evans and moved into a tenant house on Airlie, the estate of Sarah and Pembroke Jones where Julius worked as a coachman. In 1918, after the birth of her third son, Evans began working fulltime as a housekeeper at Airlie, tending properties that were filled with objects that exposed her to fine and decorative art traditions from all over the world. When the estate was sold in 1948 and its Airlie Gardens were opened to the public, she was hired to collect admissions at the entrance. For the next twenty-six years, she painted during quiet hours, selling or gifting pieces to tourists and locals. By the early 1960s, she had become a local celebrity and part of the attraction at Airlie Gardens.
