Lock #5, Shubenacadie Canal

Lock #5 in the Shubenacadie Canal system is valued as a representation of a significant civil engineering achievement and because of its important role in the history of Nova Scotia transportation. It was an integral part of a 115 kilometer, trans-province inland waterway that consisted of nine locks, seven lakes, two inclined planes (ship railway) and the Shubenacadie River. The Shubenacadie Canal linked Halifax Harbour to the Bay of Fundy between 1826 and 1870.

Lock #5 was designed by engineer Frances Hall and was first constructed in 1828, rebuilt in 1856 by C. W. Fairbanks and restored in 1991.

The Lock 5 Canal site reportedly housed up to thirty masons and labourers during construction and on the east side of the site there was a shipyard that built the steam vessels and barges that plied the Canal route. Lock keeper William King also lived on the site and kept valuable logbooks and diaries that gave insight into life on the Shubenacadie Canal in the mid-nineteenth century.