Montauk: There Just Is Not A Better Place to Party

There is only one place in the whole world named Montauk and it is located on the most eastern end of Long Island. It is a peninsula surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the Block Island Sound and some of Gardiner's Bay.

Montauk has Native American history, it has colonial history and it is rich in American jistory, but most of all, to so many visitors, Montauk has personal history.

That includes this writer, who met his wife while living exiled at the trailer camp out on Ditch Plains for 4 years.

The magic of Montauk is a 12 month a year deal, but the summertime draws the largest volume of visitors. It has become troublesome because the town is having a "too popular moment." Motel/hotel prices are soaring and the day traffic is off the charts. Bad behavior, not a new thing for Montauk, at times is now at unpleasant levels specially on Saturday nights in the village.

It is only tolerable due to the heroic efforts of the East Hampton Town Police, whose chief, as was his predecessor, is a Montauk local. There is an understanding of the high pitched behavior of the visitors who come to party, celebrate life and live it up during their short stay in Montauk. The East Hampton Police know and love Montauk.

Naturally, the Montauk locals and long time second home owners are horrified at seeing the hamlet invaded by a new generation of tourist, who are less sensitive to the traditions and ways of life on the East End.

However, for the service businesses, motels, hotels, fishing charters and bars, business is robust. I am writing this very article in a motel room off Emerson Ave. as I listen to both my air conditioner and the sound of this morning's ocean surf.

I am now the tourist.

My heart is always warmed by the familiar vistas every road brings me. I know the folks who run the bars, own the motels, businesses and even work the Lighthouse. I have done winter "Pub Quiz" events with them, raised money for the benefits that seem to bring out the best fabric of the folks of Montauk, and I have always admired the grit and work ethic of the locals. I was never a local, just a visitor who landed in Montauk broken because of divorce.

But the beauty, the heartbeat— because I believe Montauk is a living thing, not just a location — and the soul of this once small fishing village gives any visitor something special.

It gives many things to many people but most of all it brings a unique joy to all who have ever come. People party here in groups or by themselves. The many nightly campfires on the long strip of ocean beach from the village to the Lighthouse is a ritual that goes back to the Native Americans and whoever else lived in Montauk before them. The wild deer, the seagulls, the visible fish and the occasional foxes still inhabit the wooded areas of Montauk and always will because over 53% of Montauk is either federal, state, county or town parkland. The surrounding waters have stayed clean and plentiful with the seasonal fish men have fished for perhaps thousands of years.The bluffs, the sands and the rocks that makes up the Montauk shoreline have been scarred by generational boom periods since the Long Island Rail Road first arrived in 1896 but such is the way of the world.

Yet the charm of Montauk endures, it lifts souls, comforts those in despair, and brings the lonely folks solace.

The essence of all things Montauk saved my life. It was the amazing stars over the ocean, the sunrises, the sunsets, and even the gruff locals who taught me to pick myself up, dust myself off and piece my life back together. So as I once again return, with my wife, I say "thank you" to all things Montauk.