Municipally Registered Property · 1875MacPhee House
Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.01historic place on the registers
History of Sheet Harbour · Canada’s heritage registers
Older housing stands out in Sheet Harbour: 37% predates 1961
The typical town has 18%: Sheet Harbour has 2.1 times the share. Canada’s heritage registers list 1 historic place inside the town. Per resident that is more than in 90% of Canadian towns: 3 for every 10,000 people. That place is MacPhee House, a municipally registered property, from 1875.
Historic places
1
3 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
0
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Provincial and local listings
1
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1875
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
37%
typical town: 18%
The map
Where Sheet Harbour’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Provincial and local listings
Names show on hover, and a tap takes you to the place’s page.
The 1, by tier
1 Provincial and local listings
What the map shows is the open record: the federal directory in full, and from provincial or municipal lists only the places Wikidata ties to an encyclopedia article.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Provincial and local listings
One more place Sheet Harbour or its province protects
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. Each one opens its own page.
Around the town
50 places of the highest rank within 100 km of Sheet Harbour
The record reaches back to 1746 with D'Anville's Encampment, 93 km away. Nearest comes Government of Canada Building, 71 km off, in New Glasgow. They are spread over 19 towns, including Schmidtville, North End and Harrietsfield.
The 12 nearest, within 100 km
| Government of Canada BuildingRecognized Federal Heritage Building · 1961–1962 · 71 km away, in New Glasgow |
| Truro Post OfficeNational Historic Site · 1883–1887 · 74 km away, in Truro |
| ArmouryRecognized Federal Heritage Building · 1874–1875 · 75 km away, in Truro |
| Light TowerRecognized Federal Heritage Building · 1963–1965 · 80 km away, in Guysborough |
| Pictou Railway Station (Intercolonial)National Historic Site · 1904–1905 · 81 km away, in Pictou |
| Pictou AcademyNational Historic Site · 1818–1819 · 82 km away, in Pictou |
| McCulloch House MuseumProvincially Registered Property · 82 km away, in Pictou |
| Former Hampton Gray Memorial School, Building 14Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1950–1960 · 84 km away, in Eastern Passage |
| St Ninian's CathedralProvincially Registered Property · 1867 · 85 km away, in Antigonish |
| Antigonish County Court HouseNational Historic Site · 1855–1856 · 86 km away, in Antigonish |
| Lawrence HouseProvincially Registered Property · 1870 · 87 km away, in Enfield |
| Debert Palaeo-Indian SiteNational Historic Site · 1963 · 87 km away, in Colchester County, Subdivision B |
Homes by age
New homes are rare in Sheet Harbour: 1.9% from 2016–21, against a usual 4.1%
Sheet Harbour built little from 2001 to 2015: 4.5% of its homes, where most towns have 15%. Over half of the homes in Sheet Harbour were already standing by 1981. Homes built from 1961 to 1980 make up 29% of Sheet Harbour’s, about the typical 27%.
37%
Before 1961
29%
1961–80
27%
1981–2000
4.5%
2001–15
1.9%
2016–21
Sheet HarbourTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Born here
6 Sheet Harbour births on record from before 1914
The first on the line is Matthew Hutchinson (1843). Matthew Hutchinson is the most written about, in 3 languages. Longest lived was Samuel Rosborough Balcom, 93 years in all (1981). Eric Wilfred Balcom closes the list, born in 1910.
Matthew Hutchinson
Dugald Stewart
Robert Jamieson Leslie
Adam Dunlap Burris
Samuel Rosborough Balcom
Eric Wilfred Balcom
1800182518501875190019251950
Matthew Hutchinson1843–1926 · Canadian politician
DS
Dugald Stewart1862–1932 · Canadian politician
SB
Samuel Rosborough Balcom1888–1981 · Canadian politician
RL
Robert Jamieson Leslie1862–1905 · Canadian politician
AB
Adam Dunlap Burris1887–1950 · Canadian politician from Nova Scotia
EB
Eric Wilfred Balcom1910–1989 · Canadian politician
Everyone born in Sheet Harbour → Born before 1914 (the page’s periods: Confederation to the First World War). Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s Wikipedia article.
Towns its size
Sheet Harbour has the 4th most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 3,300 to 3,400 residents, by places on the registers.
Sheet Harbour1
Just these have more: Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Compton and Saint-Jean-Baptiste. The middle one has 0. For 9, the registers list nothing.
In brief
Sheet Harbour in brief
Of the homes standing in Sheet Harbour, 37% went up before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. All told, the registers hold 1 historic place. Only 3 of the 16 towns nearest its size have more historic places. Its people of the past include Matthew Hutchinson (1843), Dugald Stewart (1862) and Samuel Rosborough Balcom (1888).
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The grade. There is no history grade: the page sets out the record and compares it with other towns.
- Provincial and municipal lists. Outside Québec, provinces’ and municipalities’ heritage registers aren’t open data; their places are known only through Wikidata items with a register number, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
- The tiers. Tiers follow the designation: national recognition and classement first, other federal designations next, provincial and local listings last.
- Map points. Federal places get their map points from Wikidata, since Parks Canada’s files carry none; they are as mapped there.
- The federal register. Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations lists every National Historic Site, federal heritage building, heritage railway station and lighthouse; the Canadian Register of Historic Places adds their statements in English and French.
- Protection. Being on these registers doesn’t mean a building can’t change. Federal designation commemorates; protection is provincial or municipal, and those lists aren’t open here.
- People and events. The open directory puts its national historic persons nowhere, so a town shows one only on firm ground: a birth there, matched by name and life years, or a historic place there named for the person whose record says so. Events are left out.
Questions about Sheet Harbour’s history
How old are the homes in Sheet Harbour?
Before 1961: 37% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.
How many historic places does Sheet Harbour have on the registers?
1 historic place in Sheet Harbour, from Canada’s heritage registers.
What is the oldest building in Sheet Harbour?
MacPhee House, a Municipally Registered Property, begun in 1875.
Why might a heritage building in Sheet Harbour be missing here?
Its province’s and council’s own lists can’t be reused here; one further listing in Sheet Harbour shows up only as a Wikidata number.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).