I stayed at a 99-year-old hotel in Montauk for $490. It hasn't lost any of its 1920s charm.

• Montauk Manor has been a Hamptons institution since it opened its doors in 1926. • During my stay in August, I was impressed by its modern amenities and historic architecture. • In the nearly 100 years since it opened, it hasn't lost any of its '20s charm.

Just over 100 miles East of New York City lies Montauk, the easternmost tip of Long Island, and a playground for the East Coast's wealthy.

It wasn't always that way. Montauk was founded in 1648, and for centuries, it was a relatively sleepy fishing village, and later, a sleepy surfing town. But that all began to change when a developer named Carl G. Fisher, the man responsible for building up Miami Beach, set his sights on Montauk.

He planned to make the area the "Miami of the North," and bought some 9,000 acres of land to make