For almost 250 years, the people of Tangier have made their living and way of life from the surrounding waters while also taking part in events unlike those experienced elsewhere in Virginia. Because of its strategic location between the channels up and down the bay, Tangier beach at the south end of the island became the base of operations for the British fleet during the War of 1812. Fort Albion was built there, and from there the British sacked and burned Washington D.C., unsuccessfully attacked Baltimore, and bombarded Fort McHenry while the national anthem was being written. The beach was also where hundreds of escaped slaves first stepped onto solid ground as free men, women, and children before being trained as British Colonial Marines or relocated to Nova Scotia, Bermuda, or Trinidad. For 47 years, Tangier beach also hosted camp meetings that drew very different crowds, and surely hundreds, probably thousands, were converted to Christianity under leading preachers including Joshua Thomas, the “Parson of the islands.” Thomas drove the annual gatherings and, on the Sunday before the British left to attack Baltimore, told them they were wrong and predicted their defeat. Tangier Island is also a resting place for some Native Americans who were banished there or used it as hunting grounds, for many island sons and daughters who served in the armed forces, for British soldiers and sailors who served during the War of 1812, and for the ground where those African Americans first walked as free people.