above mean sea level and is about 37 kilometers from the coast by road. Population Economy São Marcos da Serra is a main supplier of cork, as well as a producer of grain cereals, including wheat, barley and oats, at one time supported by several traditional windmills that dotted the civil parish landscape. Beekeeping is common in the hills surrounding the village, resulting in an itinerant economy in wax and honey collected from local beehives. While a subsistence supply of fruits and vegetables continue to be produced in the area, the cultivation of peaches (rare for this area) has been discontinued. The foothills of the parish are also favored by local hunters. Light industry is primarily involved in supporting agricultural extraction, but also include the production of the Arbutus brandy (medronho), Comel, a spirit distilled locally. São Marcos da Serra also supports a nascent music recording technology, known as Dynamic Convolution, developed by Sintefex Audio Lda., resulting in award-winning music recording products. Tourism, particularly focused on its rural version, has a growing importance for the local economy. A award-winning rural camping site is available in the civil parish near the Odelouca Dam catchment area. Although having a few grocery stores, cafés, restaurants and shops, as well as a local branch of the Portuguese bank Caixa de Crédito Agrícola which includes an on-site Multibanco automated teller machine, the village of São Marcos da Serra is a satellite village of the larger and better developed town of São Bartolomeu de Messines where an active train station is found as well as nationally-renowned supermarket, bank and insurance branches and a wider diversity of other shops and services. Notable people António Bernardino Ramos, was a medical practitioner and humanitarian, who lived and practiced in São Marcos da Serra. He was honored in 1993 with a statue which was erected before his death. He was well known by his generosity. He would walk to remote farms to help people in need and he would refuse any payment for his services when the patients were poor. Although he lived in the village of São Marcos da Serra, folks would come from distant places to see him. He was legendary in the whole region. Remexido (1796 – 1838), a civil servant and wealthy land tenant established in São Bartolomeu de Messines, who became a notorious guerrilla leader of the Algarve in Portugal, defending the rights of king