Widows' Walks of Edgartown

Strolling the streets of Edgartown and admiring the stately white captains' houses, you are bound to notice an occasional railed walkway on a roof connecting the traditional pair of chimneys. If your impulse is to sigh, "Ah - a widow's walk!" and envision whalers' wives pining away up there with telescopes pointed out to sea, awaiting the return of their beloved husbands, you've fallen victim to a romantic myth.

The unromantic fact of the matter is that widows' walks had a very mundane purpose. If, in the middle of the night, you suddenly had a chimney fire and had to pour sand down your chimney to put it out, it would be hard to climb the pitch of a snowy New England roof in your slippers and ankle-length nightshirt, lugging a 15-pound pail of sand. Widows' walks solved this problem; they could be reached from inside the attic simply by climbing a ladder and opening a hatch.

So the next time someone tries to foist upon you a tale of broken-hearted whaling wives whose eyes never left the horizon while their husbands were at sea, take it with a grain of salt.

©1999 Best Read Guide/Martha's Vineyard
P.O. Box 66 (34 S. Summer St.) - Edgartown, MA 02653