widow's walk

[storkrn]

Usage is from New England, especially Cape Cod and anywhere the whaling and fishing fleets would arrive. The wives would
stand on them waiting for their mate's ships to come into view. You should be able to document this at any site dealing with
whaling history or Cape Cod, Mass.

Sharyn



This is from the Getty Vocabulary Program at the Getty Research Institute
Art and Architecture Thesaurus Browser.

Descriptor: widows' walks

Term ID: 2379

Hierarchy: Components [PJ]

Scope note - Use for railed, unroofed platforms surmounting the roofs of
American houses offering a view, especially of the sea; for rooftop
outlooks that are enclosed, use "belvederes"; for rooftop structures that
are usually ornamental, use "cupolas."

Alternate Forms of Speech {ALT}:
                 widow's walk
Synonyms and spelling variants {UF}:
                 captains' walks
                 galleries, roof
                 roof galleries
                 walks, captains'
                 walks, widows'

allen
maberry at u.washington.edu

On Sat, 28 Oct 2000, Nathan H Brown wrote:

> I know what a widow's walk is, but does anyone know anything else about
> the phrase? Where it came from, when it came into use, who first used it,
> anything at all about it? My mother needs to know for a newspaper story
> she's writing. Any help would be appreciated.
>