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 island’s south end 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 reached 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 where surely hundreds, and probably thousands, were converted to Christianity under leading preachers including Joshua Thomas, the “Parson of the islands.” Thomas, the driving force behind the annual gatherings, was asked to address the British on the beach on the Sunday before they left to attack Baltimore, and he told them they were wrong to do so and predicted their defeat. Tangier Island is also a resting place for some of the Native Americans who were banished there or used it as hunting grounds, for many of Tangier’s sons and daughters who served in the armed forces, and for British soldiers and sailors who served during the War of 1812, and it preserves ground where African Americans first walked as free people.