Mary Ann Carroll is recognized as one the of 26 original members of the Florida Highwaymen. She also holds the disinction of being the only female Highwaymen painter.

Mary Ann got her start in 1959 after meeting Harold Newton at the intersection of 20th Street and Avenue D and Fort Pierce, Florida.

Harold had set up his mobile studio and was painting a landscape scene. Harold's art caught Mary Ann's attention and curious, she stopped to talk.

Harold eventually showed her the tutored Mary Ann on basics of landscape painting.

By the early 1960s Highwaymen founder Alfred Hair had established his Highwaymen painting assembly line. Alfred had a team of employees prepping Upson boards, filling in backgrounds, and building frames.

Mary Ann took her new found interest in art that she learned from Harold and went to work selling paintings for Alfred. She was interested in art, but she was more interested in making a living.

Mary Ann and other salespeople like Al Black, did not paint on their own while Alfred was still alive. But Mary Ann started painting and selling her own art after Alfred was murdered in 1970.

Mary Ann continues to paint well into her 70s and is one of the older surviving Highwaymen artists.