Great Bridge Lock Park sits beside the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway at the point where the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal - coming up from North Carolina - meets the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Here is where thousands of boats make their way into the Chesapeake watershed.

The city park consists of a small peninsula surrounded by the canal on one side and the river on the other. Visitors come to watch boats pass along the canal and through a single lock, and to use a boat ramp, playground equipment, picnic shelters, and fishing and crabbing spots. Nearby the park is the site of an early Revolutionary War battle fought to defend a land route to Norfolk. While not publicly accessible at this time, the battlefield and additional canal frontage are the focus of a local conservation effort that may ultimately expand the story at Great Bridge Lock Park.