John Trotwood Moore

John Trotwood Moore (August 26, 1858 – May 10, 1929) was an American journalist, writer and local historian. He was the author of many poems, short stories and novels. He served as the State Librarian and Archivist of Tennessee from 1919 to 1929. He created Moore Academy in Pine Apple, Alabama in 1883. He was "an apologist for the Old South", His mother was named Emily. He had a sister, who later married a professor at Vanderbilt University. now known as Samford University, where he studied the classics, and was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. His column, called "Pacing Department", included short stories, poems and local histories. In 1897, Moore decided to publish a collection of his columns, entitled Songs and Stories from Tennessee. Four years later, in 1901, he published his first novel A Summer Hymnal. He was also a contributor to The Saturday Evening Post. Moore's fiction typically included African Americans, horses, Native Americans, bluegrass, and Tennessee culture. The main repeating character in his stories, Old Wash, was compared to the Uncle Remus character created by his contemporary, Joel Chandler Harris. He was recommended by businessman James Erwin Caldwell.

In 2019, the plaque that Moore dedicated to Jefferson Davis at a church in 1925 was moved to the church's archives. The pastor cited Moore's involvement as one of the reasons for the removal.