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Many hands make light work: Waterpenny barn raising honors late local preservationist Mary Katherine Ishee

by , | Mar 15, 2026

The new "MK's Barn" under construction at Waterpenny Farm in Sperryville, which is comprised of mostly salvaged and repurposed building materials. (Photo/Ireland Hayes)
Sheets of tin, formerly on the roof of another barn on the farm, being repurposed for the new barn's roofing.
Waterpenny farmer and Nature Camp Director Rachel Bynum directs Stephen Rose and Paul Huddleston at the construction site. Bynum said construction should be completed by the end of the month.
The unfinished struts and frame of the barn while under construction.
The bark still on a locust post used in the barn's frame.

With the scent of fresh-cut lumber in the air and hammers ringing across the fields, Rappahannock Nature Camp’s new home at Waterpenny Farm in Sperryville is taking shape.

Read the full story by Julia Shanahan at rappnews.com

Photos by Ireland Hayes

Authors

  • Ireland Hayes

    Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner.
    Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.

  • Julia Shanahan

    Julia Shanahan began working at the Rappahannock News and Foothills Forum in 2021 as a corps member with Report for America, assigned to cover the growing needs of public services in the county. She worked as a corps member for three years, winning two individual awards for feature and breaking news stories and served as a member of the advisory committee.
    Julia has been working as editor of the Rappahannock News since spring 2023 covering a wide span of issues, including rural broadband access, zoning and other happenings in local government. She graduated from the University of Iowa in 2021 with bachelor's degrees in journalism and political science, and she served as politics editor of The Daily Iowan, the independent student newspaper. She also interned with the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents' Association, where she covered state government in Harrisonburg, Pa.
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By Ireland Hayes

Read more articles by Ireland Hayes
Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner. Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.