Drawn by Jobs, More and More Salvadorans Call Nantucket, Mass., Home.

Byline: Monica Rhor

Jul. 23--NANTUCKET, Mass.--The day Marcos Tejada stepped off a ferry and onto the island of Nantucket, he felt a whisper of nostalgia for his hometown of Agua Caliente. The landscape he saw that day, with its sand dunes, patches of heather, and gardens lush with climbing roses, was so different from the rural countryside of his tiny pueblo tucked in the mountains of El Salvador.

Yet, something felt like home. Perhaps it was the secluded tranquility. Or the small-town feel. Adding to the allure was the promise of steady work in a resort community where homes sell for millions of dollars and the wealthy jet in for summer holidays.

Tejada, 29, turned his day trip into a permanent stay -- and spread the word about his discovery to 10 of his brothers and sisters, who had also emigrated from Agua Caliente to Boston. Soon, seven other Tejadas had found jobs and homes on the island, and they, too, were spreading word to friends and relatives back home.

Today, more than 200 Salvadoran immigrants live and work on the 14-mile-long island, in what has become one of New England's more unusual immigrant communities. The former residents of Agua Caliente, which means "hot water" in Spanish, live a mostly self-contained existence, seldom leaving the island, and, in some…