Taverns were the primary accommodation for travelers on the legal circuit, and before arriving in Shelbyville the judge and lawyers had a two-day journey from Paris, usually with an overnight stay in Charleston. Abraham Lincoln was one of the few attorneys who traveled the entire circuit, while most lawyers practiced in their home and neighboring counties. Judge David Davis often wrote his wife during these journeys and complained about the road between Charleston and Shelbyville, saying that his horses were very tired and Mr. Lincoln’s old horse nearly gave out. Davis frequently commented on Shelbyville’s taverns, praising Tackett’s as good with first-rate meals, while calling another tavern kept by Woodward horrid. Although he often disliked the living conditions and food in taverns across the Eighth Judicial Circuit, he enjoyed the camaraderie, as lawyers, the state’s attorney, and the circuit judge often stayed in the same rooms and slept several to a bed. He once wrote that a Shelbyville tavern was so desperately crowded that he had not until that moment had elbow room to write. Early in its history, Shelbyville was a transportation hub and had many taverns for travelers, including those operated by Miller, Lee, Gordon, Cutler, Wright, and Hall. In the eighteen forties, Tackett’s Tavern was a popular and well-run establishment. After Tackett died in 1850, Woodward purchased most of his estate, but Tallman began operating Tackett’s business after 1852 and continued through most of the eighteen fifties until Messer purchased Tallman’s interest in 1859. The life of the itinerant circuit traveler was both lonely and enjoyable, and at times dangerous, especially during heavy spring rains when travelers crossed swollen streams and rivers and took shelter in farmhouses. During one rainy period, Davis passed time in a Shelbyville tavern by playing Whist with several others. On another occasion, he joined others on a fishing trip at a mill dam on the Kaskaskia River, followed by a fish dinner. In one letter Davis wrote that Lincoln had not heard from his wife since leaving Springfield but had no doubt they were all well or he would have heard, and in another he wrote that Lincoln spoke very affectionately of his wife and children and was a very warm hearted man.