Earlier this year, I interviewed local authors Alison Simcox and Douglas Heath about their new Images of America book on the Breakheart Reservation. Along with talking about the book and the history of this conservation area located near the Wakefield/Saugus line, they were also kind enough to provide a handful of vintage Wakefield photos that capture long-ago moments of life in town.

In this week's introductory column, we're transported back to the former Breakheart Farm, which, according to the book, was located near the present-day entrance to the Breakheart Reservation, not far from the vocational school.

These particular photos show Bess Parker and her brother Ernest at the farm with their horse Prince around 1916 or 1917. In one of the photos Bess can actually be seen standing on Prince.