Dune Road stretches several miles along a thin barrier island in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., like a needle threading through paradise. On one side is Moriches Bay, a calm waterway ideal for pleasure boaters and clam diggers. The other side is oceanfront. To own one of the supersized houses on either side of Dune Road will cost you millions.

Eli Manning, the former New York Giants quarterback, and Maria Bartiromo, the television anchor, are among those with places in the area. So is Eric Nathan, 77, whose family has had property in Westhampton Beach since the 1960s.

But Mr. Nathan is not technically a homeowner. He, along with some relatives, has a driveway on Dune Road — or a “parking lot,” as he put it on a visit to the site earlier this month.

“I try to get out here every year,” said Mr. Nathan, who lives in Danbury, Conn.

The strip of sandy ground is 18 feet wide by several hundred feet long and stretches from Dune Road back to Moriches Bay. There is room enough to fit maybe six cars, before the dune grass takes over.

The property taxes are a song — about $15 a year — and the upkeep is nonexistent. Were it not for two tall poles of driftwood painted turquoise that stand near the roadside like markers, the driveway would be indistinguishable to passers-by.