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King’s Tavern has the distinction of being one of the oldest buildings in Natchez, having been built during the Spanish colonial period in the late 1700’s. It was constructed out of beams and planks taken from retired and deconstructed sailboats, river boats and skiffs that had brought goods to Natchez down the Mississippi. The building was bought by Richard King in 1789, and made into one of the first tavern inn combination in the town. The tavern became central to the community, providing both locals and travellers a place to socialize and enjoy a drink or a meal. Natchez was a common end point for many of the smaller barges coming down the Mississippi, and once they reached the town they would usually sell their goods and the pieces of their boats before heading over land back to the North. This was a fairly lucrative career, but a very dangerous one. The route back north was plagued with poor trails, wild animals, and bandits who would rob many a traveller of his entire earnings. Before the steamboat was invented, however, this was one of the only feasible ways to head home, and Natchez became an important city because of this system, in turn making the King’s Inn prosper. Supposedly some of the many travelers came to a terrible end at the King’s Inn, leaving ghost stories behind in the newly renovated historic Inn.