
Entrepreneurship
A pioneer entrepreneur, Walker operated two schooners, The Eliza Jane, and The Mud Turtle, in and out of the Kincardine Harbour. The Mud Turtle sank off the coast of Point Clark in September 1850.
Walker also worked as a contractor, beginning in 1851 on Durham Road when the road was cut eastward through bush.
Government Councillor
Paddy worked on both the Town and County government councils. In 1853, the Walker House was the scene of a small riot, which erupted over a controversy concerning the funding of a bylaw to create a harbour within Kincardine. Townships outside of Kincardine disagreed with contributing the same amount of money to the project, given that Kincardine would have assumed most of the harbour’s benefits.
After a town meeting at the Walker House involving a few too many drinks, those opposed to the bylaw threatened to create a public disturbance.
The River Story
When Paddy arrived in Kincardine, the Penetangore River emptied into the lake about 100 metres south of the Walker House. As legend has it, Paddy and some friends went out in the middle of the night with their shovels and dug through the sand dunes at the end of what is now Harbour Street, thereby moving the mouth of the river to where it is today.
Doing so made the Walker House the first thing people saw when they got off their boats; however this changed in 1881 when the Kincardine Lighthouse was built.
Paddy Walker died March 14, 1876 at the age of 76. Both he and his wife Jane are buried at the Kincardine Cemetery.