Oh man, you guys are rough on poor Sandy, I mean Randy! An understandable mistake from a distance without clicking the photo for a closer look. However, another clue might be that "sand" drifting around the edges of the upper floor balcony. All in good fun Randy, each of us gets a turn over Dave's barrel.

I would suggest that the last owner realized the old place needed a complete paint job and justly decided to simply walk away.

I too thought sand and dunes when I first saw this photograph. But just now, when I went for a closer look at how the building was put together, the white is snow. Suddenly it's a lot colder out.

Building went from charming derelict to abandoned ruin in my mind.

Closer examination reveals my mistaken identification of sand is actually snow.

Please excuse my mistake. We here in Houston very rarely get snow. The most abundant natural element we get is water, and more water and ...

[Another clue would be the title of the post. - Dave]

In the Northeast we call it "snow."

Did something move?

The house, to me, gives the appearance of being built on a beach, especially given the wrap-around porches. And there is no beach in that area.

And, according to my map, Dalton is not in Allegany County but rather Livingston County.

[Dalton addresses include locations in Allegany County. - Dave]

It would be lovely to see a picture of what the house looked like in its prime. As my father would say, it looks like it's got "good bones." I don't envy the person who had to clean all those windows, though. That was an all-day affair.