Montauk

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Montauk is located on the extreme Eastern tip of Long Island, NY. It is an unincorporated village in the town of East Hampton. It is a tourist destination, but it is not overrun with development. It is still an active fishing village, both commercial and sport fishing, and claims to have more saltwater fishing records than anywhere else in the world. Montauk derives its name from the Montaukett Indians, an Algonquin speaking tribe who once lived there.

The very tip of the peninsula is Montauk Point bordered on the Southwest by the Atlantic Ocean and the Northeast by Block Island Sound. The Point lines up at just about the border between Connecticut and Rhode Island. To me it is more New England than New York.

Other bodies of water on the Sound side include Fort Pond Bay and Napeague Harbor. Within Montauk are several lakes, ponds and marshes including Lake Montauk, a 900 acre lake that was fresh water until 1927 when a hole was blasted in the northern shoreline to connect it to the Sound. It is now home to many marinas and the largest commercial and sporting fish fleets in the state of New York. Other bodies of water include Fort Pond, Oyster Pond, Big Reed Pond and Money Pond.

A famous Montauk shark fisherman named Frank Mundus is putatively the basis of the character Quint in Jaws.

A significant portion of the land is set aside as protected state and county parks. Local zoning laws forbid chain stores, so there are no Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, CVS or strip malls. All of the businesses are independently owned, mostly by people who live there at least part of the year. This is one reason I love it. The development is sparse enough that wildlife thrives in the area and there is great beauty in the topography.

The Montauk Point Lighthouse is the fourth oldest active lighthouse in the US, authorized by the Second US Congress under President George Washington in 1792 and completed in 1796.

During World War II Camp Hero was established to help protect US shores from German U-Boats. It is now a state park, but the radar remains. A series of novels began being published in the 90s called the Montauk Project. Though it was fiction, many have taken the project to be true: an outgrowth of the Philadelphia Experiment where the government researched psychological warfare, psychic powers and time travel. It was even an episode of the X-files. Conspiracy theorists claim Nikola Tesla was chief of operations and that his death was faked. Some believe the AIDS virus was created there and that there is a hole to the core of the earth somewhere in the area. I have hiked that area many times; evidence of these evil doings is cleverly disguised.

In 2008 a new round of conspiracy theories was launched when an unidentified life form washed ashore in Montauk now known as the Montauk Monster. Is it a racoon? Or an alien life form from Project Montauk?

Montauk was also featured prominently in the film "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind".

While I don't buy into the conspiracy theories, they add to the charm of Montauk. It has its mysteries to be sure. At night it is extremely dark. There are no major cities for many miles so there is no ambient light. On moonless nights I have seen the Milky Way reflected in the ocean, quite brightly. You pass through sound vortexes of crickets and frogs and fowl mixed with the sounds of the ocean. It is beautiful and even sometimes spooky. Sometimes at night you can see ocean liners on the horizon passing, all lit up for parties for the last night before docking in New York City.

The Rolling Stones song "Memory Motel" gets its title from a motel of the same name in Montauk near Andy Warhol's estate where Jagger and Richards once stayed. Other famous Montauk residents have included Dick Cavett, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Edward Albee, Robert DeNiro, Ralph Lauren, Richard Avedon, Bernie Madoff and Julian Schnabel.

There is an active surfing community in Montauk, some of whom are included in this video.

I shot the footage in this compilation in September 2009 and May 2010. The music is by Jason Shaw, (http://www.audionautix.com)

http://www.youtube.com/user/audionautix

Wikipedia articles about Montauk:

Montauk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk,_New_York

The Montauk Project
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Project

The Montauk Monster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Monster

Frank Mundus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Mundus

Lake Montauk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Montauk

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Montauk
• Montauk Point
• LIghthouse
• Atlantic Ocean
• Block Island
• Montauk Project
• Fishing
• Surfing
• Napeague Harbor
• Audionautix
• Ditch Plains

[Shockwave315]

so much for the zoning laws. 7-Eleven is out here now...

[FantasticBabblings]

@Shockwave315 That sucks. I wonder if they changed the law or if somebody got paid off.

[wetducky44]

i live here yay lol

[FantasticBabblings]

@wetducky44 Lucky you :) It's a beautiful place and so peaceful.

[ovationrae]

I am a 13th century Bonaker but don't get home much as I would like, my great grandfather manned the Montauk lighthouse..............Thank you for this, helps when I am home sick.......:)

[FantasticBabblings]

@ovationrae I wish I could get out there more often. It's so beautiful.

[BeezoHow]

I love Gosmans Dock.

[annihilus2]

@Shockwave315 I'm curious as to the ethnicity of the person behind the counter, I found a 7-11 on Lantau Island, Hong Kong, thought that was pretty remote

[ShockRawTecTalk]

@wetducky44 im 15.....

[wetducky44]

@ShockRawTecTalk hahha 12

[ShockRawTecTalk]

@wetducky44 local? how old?

[shaqmo33]

@caitie1010 so many irish people work out here. especially the sloppy tuna and gosmins

[missesglitter101]

I have a house there and mexico yay meeeee

[caitie1010]

should be coming here from ireland in the summer, looks sorta like ireland haha

[bootsorourke]

This is nice. I grew up and still live(part time) in Montauk.

Thank you