The Naming of the School

Times were hard in rural Blount County in the early 1900’s and money was scarce. Farmers barely eked out a living from cotton crops and most of them did not own a single acre of the land they farmed; they owed rent year in and year out. Every farmer dreamed of something better for his children and longed to provide better educational opportunities for them than he had been privileged to have. The dream of a local high school was dear to the citizens of Clarence and the surrounding communities. The little village was so called because of the settling of the Clarence Moore family, whose roots went back to the Zachariah Moore who came from North Carolina via Walton County, Georgia.Descendents of the Moore family were farmers, one a country doctor, another a roving dentist. By 1923, two sons of the country doctor were themselves practicing medicine and operating the South Highland Hospital in Birmingham.

Meanwhile the idea of a high school wouldn’t go away. At every gathering of citizens the proposed high school was discussed. The two young Moore physicians, Drs. Joe G. and David S., Jr., came home in the spring of 1923 to attend the funeral of their mother. On that sad occasion talk of the longed-for high school came to the ears of the bereaved sons. They had money and here was an opportunity to provide an on-going tribute to their mother and at the same time help their boyhood neighbors. They donated almost the entire amount required to construct the new building— and all they wanted in return was that the school be called SUSAN MOORE, the name of their mother, Susan Nunnelly who was the wife of Dr. David S. Moore Sr. their father.

Mission Statement

As a vital component of the community, the mission of Susan Moore High School is to provide each student with the tools necessary to become a responsible, productive member of society and a life-long seeker of knowledge.