Seen In Hopkinsville

Life in Christian County, Kentucky... History and Old Stuff...

This beautifully detailed stoop is part of a home on Virginia Street in Hopkinsville, KY.

I was curious about the word "stoop" so I looked it up. Here is the definition according to Answers.com:

stoop (stup) n. Chiefly Northeastern U.S.
A small porch, platform, or staircase leading to the entrance of a house or building. [Dutch stoep, front verandah, from Middle Dutch.] Originally brought to the Hudson Valley of New York by settlers from the Netherlands... Stoop, “a small porch,” comes from Dutch stoep; this word is now in general use in the Northeast and is probably spreading...

And according to LaborLawTalk.com:

Stoop: (?), n. (Arch.) Originally, a covered porch with seats, at a house door; the Dutch stoep as introduced by the Dutch into New York. Afterward, an out-of-door flight of stairs of from seven to fourteen steps, with platform and parapets, leading to an entrance door some distance above the street; the French perron. Hence, any porch, platform, entrance stairway, or small veranda, at a house door.