Michigan man travels far for lighthouse artifacts

Chicago Tribune -

Steve Gronow's search for items to display in his Maritime Exchange Museum has led him to various parts of the globe.

Gronow, in the more than 25 years he's collected artifacts such as lighthouse lenses and other nautical equipment, has traveled to places such as South America, Germany and Australia.

The museum is set up inside Gronow's Genoa Township home. The museum is not generally open to the public, he said, but he does occasionally make the display available for viewing through local civic events and fundraisers.

Gronow works with lighthouse historians to grow his collection.

"It's a small community. We all know each other and appreciate the history of lighthouses and the things that can be found. If one of us finds something someone else may be interested in, we try to make contact with that person," he said.

That appreciation in 2003 led Gronow to the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain -- a country troubled by terrorism and recently the site of protests.

Gronow had heard about a number of items, including rare lighthouse lenses, being sold as scrap metal. He told the seller he'd pay 10 times the scrap value, hopped a flight to the Middle East, and brought back a 40-foot container filled with artifacts.

The trip wasn't without some excitement, Gronow said.

"It was a scary time (in Bahrain) because terrorism was at an all-time high," Gronow said. "Americans were being captured and beheaded.

"We were loading some things, and a guy who spoke very little English asked where we were staying. There's only one reason they'd ask where we're staying, so we didn't tell them we were in a hotel. We said we were staying in a compound with barbed wire."

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