Widow's walk
A rooftop platform or narrow walkway, used originally as a lookout for incoming ships in colonial coastal houses.
Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
widow’s walk
A flat roof deck or raised observation platform sometimes having a view of the sea, situated on the roof of a house and enclosed by a balustrade or railing; the horizontal roof surface is usually formed by truncating the top of a hipped roof; also called a captain’s walk.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.