Widow's Walk

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:05 pm

What is the difference between a "widow's walk" and a "captain's walk" that are found on the tops of some old houses?

Architecture can be pretty -- confusing! - Sherry Chapman

Wordweaver · Post by **Wordweaver** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:59 am

A widow's walk is roofed. A captain's walk isn't.

Edit: But I'm not sure anybody cares anymore -- they seem to be used interchangeably. I got the information from a book on New England architecture, which I don't think I have any longer.

SteveS. · Post by **SteveS.** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:00 pm

I was going to reply with the same answer...a Captains walk is open aired and a widows walk is enclosed. Most of the houses in New Bedford have a widows walk. If you remember the tv show "Ghost and Mrs. Muir" they had a good example of a captains walk...where a captain can look out to see with his spyglas. A widows walk was enclosed because she spent alot of time up there looking out to sea to see if her husbands ship is comming in.

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 2:44 pm

Thanks for the great posts, Wordweaver and SteveS! I'd never heard of a "Captain's Walk". I read that there are a lot of examples of those in New Bedford, the whaling town.

Can anyone post a picture of what a "widow's walk" really is? I would like to get an idea of a real one.

stargazer · Post by **stargazer** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:40 pm

Widow's walks, and window seats have always fascinated me. It seems like women hang out there when men let them down in some way. Do men have such places when women give them a hard time, or let them down in some way ? Good to ponder.

Debbie · Post by **Debbie** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 2:21 pm

I am so glad I found this topic. I have told my husband a widows walk has a roof, but he was insistent that a widow walk was on the roof of the house, without a roof and only railing.
Thanks for helping him to believe me.

mbhenty · Post by **mbhenty** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:52 pm

Yes, many people get these all mixed up: cupolas, widow's walk, captian's walk, etc.

The captian's walk and widow's walk is really the same thing. First ones to appear along the American coast were just a platform with a railing. Though they were referred to as Widow's Walks, they were used for other reasons, such as, for just viewing the sea, and/or to gain access to the chimney for maintenance reasons, such as cleaning or putting out a chimney fire.

In the middle of the 19th century the widow's walk became very popular. They are all over Fall River, New Bedford and New England at large. Many of them inland and nowhere near the sea. Most were built for decorative reasons, having little practical use aside from a pleasant place to sit and look over the top of trees and other buildings. Most of these were large cupolas and the large Victorian ones are better referred to as Belvederes.

But, the first captain's walks or widow's walks were just a railing and platform. Below are a couple of Nantucket homes with widow's walks. One of them is the Maria Mitchell house, built in 1790. Maria was known as the first women astronomer. In the 1840s Maria would sit at night on her widow's walk inspecting the stars with her telescope. Could this be why this widow's walk was built?

The photo of the big stately home is the Alanson Remington Paine house built in the early 1900s and smack dab in the middle of Massachusetts, no where near the ocean.

SummerCodSuz · Post by **SummerCodSuz** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 5:26 pm

Lovely pics! I've always wanted a widow's walk. I'm going to show my husband these pics, he built our house and I know could easily build a widow's walk if he put his mind to it, so we could look at the stars.