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Nellie was born on the Eastern shore of Maryland and moved many times with her family, finally moving to a remote “self-(in)sufficient” farm on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia when she was 12. Days were long, work was hard, food was scarce at times, and Nellie was determined that she would go to college no matter what it took. With no high school education and no money she worked her way through Nova Scotia Agricultural College and Cornell University, earning High Honors at both colleges. She went on to work for Cornell Cooperative Extension, then left there to raise her son and start her own Agricultural Consulting business and cut flower farm, “Flower Fields” in Batavia, NY. She has done public garden planning and recently completing the design and implementation of the gardens at Springdale Farm, a Monroe County Park. Watch Nellie's Horticutural segments on WROC Channel 8, at 6:30 on alternating Fridays.

Her love of boating began when she learned to “jig” for codfish from a row boat on the Bras d’ Or Lake. Combining her love of history, and “old stuff” as well as her easy way with people and ability to combine all of the things that she loves into an experience to remember, she looks forward to seeing you on the “Rose Lummis”.

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John was born in Canandaigua, the son of a dairy farmer. He grew up working hard on the family farm in the beautiful Bristol Valley. With hard work and a pioneering spirit, John eventually bought and ran his own dairy farm in Newark. Using the skills and knowledge he had gained while farming, John developed and ran a successful excavating business and steel building dealership. Many of the large industrial buildings you see in and around Rochester are Chief buildings from Upstate Steel Structures.

John’s love of boating began very early, and he had his own boat at the age of 16, a gift from his grandfather.  When John was 18 years old he was invited to go sailing with some friends, from Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas, a 3 day ocean sailing trip. He was hooked from then on and has owned a collection of boats ever since, motoring and sailing the lakes, rivers, and canals of the east coast. His ocean experience includes a trip from St. Thomas Island to New York Harbor in the 43 ft Beneteau sailboat he purchased there in 1997. He has worked tirelessly to restore both the sailboat and the “Rose Lummis” in order to offer them to the public for all to enjoy.

Captain John Cooper has been licensed since 2000, and is rated for a 100 ton vessel in near coastal waters. For the past several winters, he has captained offshore supply ships in the Gulf of Mexico.

His dream is to charter the “Rose Lummis” in the summer on the Erie Canal and the “Sarah Bess”, his sailboat named after his two grandmothers, in the Bahamas in the winter. Seeing people enjoying themselves on his boat gives John great pleasure, and he welcomes you on board to enjoy one of the historical boats he loves, the “Rose Lummis”.

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The “Rose Lummis” is a 55 foot long 1953 Mississippi River tour boat, originally built with no upper deck or wheelhouse, and the controls on the main deck. She was built as a tour boat, with a paddlewheel, in Jeffersonville, Indiana, where the "Mississippi Queen" also originated. She is powered by two Ford Lehman diesel engines.

She was first named “Miss Green River” and ran out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and was later renamed “Sea Witch” when she was moved to Vicksburg, Miss., and ran tours on the Mississippi River.

She was purchased by Arney’s Marine in 1985 and trucked overland to Sodus Point. She survived the long trip and a change in trucking companies in the middle of the journey. She was named most recently for Rose Lummis, a prominent saint-like person from Sodus Point where the boat operated as a dinner cruise boat from 1985 until 1990. She then sat idle for ten years until Captain Cooper saw her in disrepair in a boat yard and saw the potential to restore her. First he had to talk the owner into selling her to him by proving that he was “Rose Lummis worthy”. Finally purchasing the boat in the fall of 2001, he went to work completely restoring her, rebuilding the hull, and completing the upper deck, among other improvements. See the photo album of restoration of the “Rose Lummis” when you ride the boat!

The Rose Lummis is very unique in that it allows freedom of movement from the lower protected deck, where you can sit at tables, to the open upper observation deck, where you can see Captain John Cooper operate the boat from the original controls in the wheelhouse. The Rose Lummis is Coast Guard inspected and approved for a passenger capacity of 49, as well as four crew members.