The staff at the Hopewell House, a nonprofit that runs a group home for the treatment of the mentally ill, recently celebrated their fourth annual open house onwith a pig roast. The home is at the historic 19-acre Winfield farm, considered a historically significant property in Fairfax County.

Most of the 200 invitees, including Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity and the county’s helicopter-borne rescue squad, showed up for the event, which included a raffle, games and a line of vendor booths. They provided information on mental health, treatment and disabilities.

“We want to promote health care and we have people from all the different branches,” said Karen Lewis, project director. “When you are diagnosed with a disease, you feel very isolated and we are here to promote the fact that there are lots of support services available.”

The ranch, just off of Routes 286 and 29, is down a one-lane former ox-cart path. The ranch is significant because of the multi-room Winfield House, which dates back to 1815. Local historians believe it was this cart-path that Confederate Col. John Mosby used to evade detection and capture a Union general on March 8, 1863. Such routes were important for Mosby, credited with keeping a Union Army pinned down in Washington D.C. during the war to protect it and President Lincoln against incursions from his raiding parties.