The first thing you need to know about the geographic name "Nimmo'' is that most people these days pronounce it wrong. It shouldn't sound like "knee mo," according to Susan Kellam, historian for Nimmo United Methodist Church.
"It's pronounced as Nimmo, with the sound of rim," Kellam said. "When they say 'go to Wal-Mart on Neemmo Parkway,' the people in the church shudder."
The place name is derived from the Nimmo family of Virginia Beach, said Stephen Mansfield, academic vice president emeritus and college archivist at Virginia Wesleyan College, who has written about Virginia Beach history .
The Nimmos, who were farmers, were not all that prominent, Mansfield said. They took their place in area history by being generous, providing the land on which the Nimmo United Methodist Church was built. In 1791, Anne Nimmo sold the acre of land to then Methodist Episcopal Church for five shillings, Kellam said. In appreciation for the gesture, the church took on her name. Work immediately began on the "Nimmo Meeting House," which grew into today's current church, according to church documents.
"They were a farming family ... she sold it under value, so essentially, it was a gift," Mansfield said. "That's one reason why the church held the Nimmo name."
And now the name graces a parkway that runs past the city's Municipal Center and by the Red Mill Commons shopping center .
Jennifer Jiggetts, (757) 222-5140, Jennifer.Jiggetts@pilotonline.com
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