Thursday night music, food and fun at The Denny House has become a gathering place for the Waynesburg community and a tradition for the Denny House innkeepers, Andy and Leigh Ann Shaner.

According to the GreeneScene online community magazine in an article titled, “I Love This Place: The Denny House” written by Colleen Nelson on June 23, 2021, The Denny House was built in 1836 and, after being passed down through the Denny family, has been in the Ownership of Pam and Kent Marisa for the past three years. According to The Denny House Website, the Marisa’s restored the building in 2021 with a “commitment to preserving the rich history of this cherished landmark.”

“They want to preserve the history, and there is just not a lot left in Waynesburg as far as history goes. So this is a big thing to have something that historic and restored to the way it used to look,” Leigh Ann Shaner said.

The Denny House holds open-to-the-public events every Thursday evening from the first Thursday in February to the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. 

The Shaners take pride in the fact that all of the food and drinks served at the Denny House are homemade. “She’s Italian, and so she loves to cook, and she’s good at it, and so most of our food is made from scratch,” Andy said about his wife Leigh Ann.

However, these events have not always been held on Thursday evenings. When the open-to-the-public events started, they were held on Wednesday evenings from May to September, with the Shaners said they received a lot of feedback about adjusting their season.

“We had people telling us, ‘I can’t believe you’re closed,’ and now we have no place to go after work. So when we took over, we said, ‘let’s get started earlier in the spring, and let’s keep it open a little bit later,’” Leigh Ann Shaner said.

The Denny House hosts more than just their Thursday night public events. Andy Shaner estimated that they host 20-25 public events per year. These events include formal teas, Mother’s Day brunches, Christmas lunches, Karaoke, disco and party nights. All of these public and private events are held in the Carriage House and courtyard. They also host about 15 private events per month. Similarly to the public events, all the food is handmade by Leigh Ann Shaner. 

When visiting, the Shaners encourage the public to spend time walking through and looking at the house’s architecture and history. Guided Tours are available to schedule through their website as well.

Leigh Ann Shaner invites and encourages the students of Waynesburg University to attend the open-to-the-public events. More specifically, she invites WU students to the Holiday open house on Nov. 30. More details for this event and others can be found on The Denny House website.