You would think the idea originated in places like Nantucket, where whaling ships came and went regularly. Wealthy captains owned the more embellished houses that overlooked the harbors. But I've never found any factual historic reference to the widows walk.

Yet the popular notion, like that of poor Captain Ahab who never returned from sea(for similar fictional, but romantic reasons), has taken hold. "And on dark and stormy nights, a few have seen a figure on the rooftop platform, holding an oil lamp" - that sort of thing. Poor woman...

But isn't that the nature of 'history', sort of an ongoing maintenance program?