Preston - There were more than three dozen town residents who hold such precious memories of the town they've lived in for so long that the stories spilled out.

The stories, pictures and books were shared by the residents and town officials last Thursday as eighth graders at Preston Plains Middle School interviewed the subjects as part of the school's unit on town history and the 325th anniversary of the town.

The students have been studying the town's history and had the chance to visit the former Norwich State Hospital property.

Among the more than three dozen longtime residents and town officials, were local farmers as well as those born in Preston and those who graduated from Preston Plains' first graduating class in 1969.

Clutching old town maps, photos and schoolbooks, the subjects were armed and ready for the onslaught of questions.

Mike Harris sat in the cafeteria interviewing Irene Zuckerbraun and her husband Leonard.

In 1956, they moved to a piece of property tucked into the corner of a farm, Irene Zuckerbraun recalled.

"There were very few houses on the road at that time," she said. "I remember our neighbors and the little grocery store whose owner refused to sell Maraschino cherries because the town was drier than dry and the store owner said he knew what the cherries were used for."

In the years following the Zuckerbrauns' arrival to Preston, the town's population numbered around 3,000.

"Everybody knew everyone," Zuckerbraun said.

Harris, who told the couple that he wanted to be a lawyer, chuckled at the memories.

Spread among six of the school's classrooms, the students were able to have one-on-one sessions with their subject, allowing them nearly an hour and a half to ask their questions.

Some of the students were a bit shy at first, but as the conversations started to flow, most of them eased into it.

Born Nov. 18, 1924, Ernie Abrahamson remembers living through the Hurricane of 1938. The youngest of five children, Abrahamson said that his favorite thing to do was to make slingshots.

"We'd scour the woods for the perfect crotches and we would make the band from a tire," he said.

"Wow, that's pretty cool," student Gage Walters said.

"It was the only rubber we had," Abrahamson said.

Walters asked a series of other questions that included how Abrahamson got to school every day and what high school he went to. Abrahamson attended Norwich Free Academy, which is the same school Walters said he'll attend his freshman year.

Abrahamson offered Walters some advice on navigating the big high school campus but did say that it was a "bit hard to get acclimated" at first.

The information gathered from the interviews will be used by the students to complete their history projects, which will be judged by members of the town's historical society during the school's historical fair.

The fair is scheduled for Tuesday, May 22 at Preston Plains Middle School from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

J.HANCKEL@THEDAY.COM