Established by the city in 1854, the cemetery was designed by Charles H. Howe as a rural landscape with winding carriage paths, ponds, footbridges, gardens, a chapel, funerary art, and sculpture. It also includes extensive wooded wetlands. Evergreen was modeled after America's first rural cemetery-Mount Auburn in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The popularity of garden and rural cemeteries as designed landscapes was so great, in form and function, they pointed the way to the development of urban parks as we know them today.

Evergreen Cemetery, the second-largest publicly-owned open space in the city at 239 acres, has been host to a variety of wildlife such as geese, ducks, pheasants, swans, turtles, blue heron, fox, mink, deer, and moose. Its spaciousness combined with old-growth pine and oak, vegetation, ponds, and surrounding wetland, provides a true wildlife oasis. It is considered a premier birdwatching sanctuary. Maine Audubon utilizes the cemetery for field trips, including their annual Warbler Week, conducted in May. The cemetery is also a wonderful location to enjoy the vibrant colors of fall foliage in Maine.

The Maine TrailFinder website has a description and map of a hike at Evergreen Cemetery.

The extensive trail network behind and through Evergreen Cemetery offers tranquil wooded walks and exceptional birding in the heart of Portland, while the nearby cemetery highlights some fascinating Maine history including the tomb of Governor Percival Baxter.