He plays the recorder. She plays the piano. They are both retired and inherited the house in which they now live. Fred H.C. Hotchkiss and his wife, Anita, are two members of the new majority: the rapidly growing elderly population on the Vineyard.

In an interview this week they said the decision to move to the Vineyard year-round came gradually and finally happened in 2004. They are retired but have hardly been idle. And like many retirees, they chose the Vineyard as their home deliberately. They said it wasn’t so much about the beaches in summer, which are nice, or the fact that it is a summer resort, which is the world’s view of the Island. There is life here, they say, and good community.

“We found more community here instantly, than in the 25 years we lived off-Island,” Mr. Hotchkiss said.

Mr. Hotchkiss, 66, was born in Oak Bluffs, but he spent most of his life in other places. For 25 years he was an engineer for a Waltham manufacturing firm. Mrs. Hotchkiss was a professor of behavioral science at Fitchburg State University. Their last permanent residence was in the town of Harvard.

When they first moved to the Vineyard, they kept a car in Falmouth. They had the idea that if living on the Island got to be too much for them, they could take the boat to the mainland and go on a trip. After a while, the car was unnecessary. “I don’t feel as though it is a prison here,” Mrs. Hotchkiss said.

An avid scientist, Mr. Hotchkiss has found a number of outlets for his work. He is the director of the Marine and Paleobiological Research Institute, which he runs from his home. He is a fossil collector who gives frequent talks. To students at the regional high school, he is known as Fossil Fred. He and his wife are judges at the school science fair.

“There is such incredible richness in the people who live here — their interests,” said Mrs. Hotchkiss. “We have grandchildren who live here. That is a huge part of our happiness.” She concluded:

“We don’t feel like we are getting old at all; we share our time with people of all ages.”

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Bruce Lewellyn and his wife, Jean, also retired to the Vineyard in 2004. For nearly 30 years they had sailed into the Vineyard, although they had never summered here.

“Martha’s Vineyard was our turning point,” Mrs. Lewellyn said. They previously lived in New Haven, Conn., for 40 years. Mr. Lewellyn was an attorney, while Mrs. Lewellyn taught fourth grade. Every summer they would cruise up the coast, stopping along the way in Long Island, Newport, Block Island — and the Vineyard.

When it came time to think of a place to retire, Mrs. Lewellyn said she and her husband looked at a number of places, some on Cape Cod. They have grandchildren in the Pacific Northwest. “We wanted a place where our kids and our grandchildren could come. We wanted a place that was a kid catcher,” she said.

The rest of the story is familiar. The Lewellyns bought a home in Vineyard Haven and eventually moved to the Island full-time.

“I was looking for a place where there is a real sense of community. Going to the Agricultural Hall for potluck suppers — where people gathered,” Mrs. Lewellyn said. “When you get off the ferry, you aren’t simply going back into the woods somewhere.

“We left an urban community, a place where there are almost too many choices, to settle in a place where there is a sense of smallness. You do make choices,” she said.

Five years ago Mr. Lewellyn joined the Tisbury finance committee. He has served as chairman of the town dredge committee for more than four years. He volunteers for Habitat for Humanity, occasionally swinging a hammer himself.

They love bicycling, kayaking and clamming. They love music and sing in the Community Chorus. Mrs. Lewellyn volunteers for Hospice, Sail Martha’s Vineyard, the Friends of the Vineyard Haven Public Library and the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services thrift shop.

If there is any downside to living on the Island, the Lewellyns said it is access to medical care. On-Island care is excellent, they said, but when the need arises to see a specialist, things get more complicated. “You have to wonder, at age 72, at what point it gets to be a hassle to get up at 6 a.m. to drive to Boston for a doctor’s appointment,” Mr. Lewellyn said.

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Leslie Clapp, director of the Martha’s Vineyard Center for Living, confirms the trend revealed in the latest numbers from the U.S. Census: The Island is aging.

“We are serving more individuals 55 years of age and older. They are a really diverse group. You’ve got people who are very active in the community, doing all kinds of things. They are busy. And then you’ve got those who are going to be 100 years old, some of whom are less able to branch out and participate in the community like they used to,” Ms. Clapp said.

The Center for Living was formerly called the Island Councils on Aging. Ms. Clapp has been director for 13 years.

The center offers a supportive day care program that has grown considerably in less than two decades. “That program was started at the Edgartown Council on Aging in 1985. We had four or five clients. Now we are upwards to 30 clients and five on the waiting list,” Ms. Clapp said.

The center helps Island seniors connect with a variety of services from off-Island medical taxi services to emergency food assistance.