'The End' of New York

Montauk Point is located at the furthest eastern tip of Long Island. It used to be a "fishing village." That has changed over the last 20 years. Now it is one of the east coast's most desirable summer destinations. Yes, it located in the town of East Hampton, the posh whereabouts that has been home to such stars as Madonna, Paul McCartney, Diddy, Martha Stewart and Jerry Seinfeld. However, music icons, TV and movie stars and comedians aren't even part of the story, at least not mine.

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Montauk Point is a New York State Park. You don't need to be a star or a lot money to enjoy it. It costs $8 to get in or if you buy an annual Empire Pass to support the New York State Park system for about $65 a year, you can go to any NYS Park as many times as you want. Montauk Point, like most NYS Parks, is well appointed with a restaurant and a playground for the kiddos. But the main attraction, of course, is the historic Montauk lighthouse, whose construction began in 1786. The east end of Long Island is as stoked with American history as any place in America.

Don't make the trip for the restaurant, a rather well appointed concession stand nor the playground. Come for the views or better yet the fishing if you are up for it. The rocky beaches are the only land separating you from Europe. That's pretty cool. OK, Block Island, RI is out there but it's small. The views are magnificent, most any time of the day. I like morning.

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I won't lie. I don't just like Montauk Point, I love it. If I could pick one place to be, it's that one. Yup, I have some awesome fishing memories from The Point. It truly is considered "The Surfcasting Capital of the World." I and many others would agree. I have spent countless hours on the rocky shoreline, surfcasting for striped bass, fluke and bluefish. For years we used to sleep in our cars in October fishing all night, resting for a few hours and doing it all over again, all to catch that 30 pound striped bass. To me, Montauk Point is a little slice of Nirvana.

Later this week, I will show you around the town. There is awesome food, great history and a ton of fun to be had at The End of New York. In case you did not know "The End" is a nickname for Montauk. Now there's a fun fact for you.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.