You may be surprised to learn there were Teamsters involved in the building of the Shubenacadie Canal. We have the names of two of these – Thomas Fisher and James Prentice. As you can imagine there would frequently be the need to move heavy items and a horse and wagon would be required.
One of the essential uses of the horses was the transportation of granite stones from the quarry at Purcells Cove to the various Lock sites. The stones would be cut from the cliffs which can still be seen there. Next the stones would be loaded on a wagon and then transported to the Harbour where they would be loaded on a boat or barge and transported across the Harbour to be loaded on another wagon and on to one of the Lock sites. It’s interesting to look at the granite stones in Lock 1 and imagine either or both Thomas Fisher and James Prentice on the wagon ride required to get them there.
