King's Tavern is the oldest building in Mississippi — a sturdy brick structure on the old Natchez Trace at the edge of the historic district. Built in 1769, it served as a tavern and inn for travellers arriving along the trace from Nashville, and its ground-floor bar has been in near-continuous operation in some form ever since.
Today it functions as a restaurant and bar with a focus on wood-fired cooking, and the atmosphere — exposed brick, low ceilings, the general sense of accumulated history — is authentic rather than themed. The cocktail list leans into the haunted reputation with appropriate names. Worth a drink even if you are eating elsewhere, and a genuinely atmospheric lunch spot.