Moore County, Tennessee

History

Moore County was established in 1871 from parts of Lincoln, Bedford and Franklin counties, and named in honor of General William Moore, an early settler and long-time member of the state legislature. The new county originally contained about 300 square miles, but Lincoln County sued and successfully reclaimed a portion of its land, reducing the new county's size.

Moore County has been home to whiskey distilleries since the 1820s. By 1875, fifteen distilleries were operating in the county. At the end of the 20th century, the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg was the county's primary source of revenue.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 130 square miles (340 km²), of which 129 square miles (330 km²) is land and 1.2 square miles (3.1 km²) (0.9%) is water. It is the second-smallest county in Tennessee by area. The county is located partially on the rugged Highland Rim, and partially in the flatter Nashville Basin.

Adjacent counties

Protected area

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 6,362 people, 2,492 households, and 1,841 families residing in the county. There were 2,492 occupied housing units. The racial makeup of the county was 95.4% White, 2.3% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 1.1% from two or more races. 1.1% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 2,492 households out of which 27% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.8% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.1% were non-families. 22.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, male or female. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 2.93.

In the county, the population was spread out with 24.2% under the age of 20, 14.8% from 20 to 34, 20.5% from 35 to 49, 22.1% from 50 to 64, and 18.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.3 years.

Per 2000 Census data, the median income for a household in the county was $36,591, and the median income for a family was $41,484. Males had a median income of $31,559 versus $20,987 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,040. 9.6% of the population and 7.8% of families were below the poverty line. 11.7% are under the age of 18 and 12.1% are 65 or older.

Economy

Moore County is the location of the Jack Daniel Distillery, whose famous brand of Tennessee whiskey is marketed world-wide. Ironically, despite the operational distillery, Moore is a dry county. This status dates to the passage of state prohibition laws in the early 20th century. While federal prohibition ended in 1933 with the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, state prohibition laws remain in effect. All Tennessee counties are dry by default, though any county can become "wet" by passing a county-wide "local option" referendum. Moore County has yet to pass such a referendum.

Education

Schools in Moore County are apart Lynchburg-Moore County Schools:

Motlow State Community College is located in northern part of Moore County.