How Did Jousting Become Maryland’s Official State Sport?

By Aaron Henkin

Published May 24, 2022 at 2:24 PM EDT

Jouster Bob Enfield lances a ring at a tournament in Kingsville, Maryland (Photo credit: Aaron Henkin / WYPR)

Our quest takes us to a ring-jousting event hosted by the Maryland Jousting Tournament Association. Then we venture into a forest to find the ruins of a Gothic mansion where the state’s first official joust was held.

A plaque displays the ring sizes at a jousting tournament (photo credit Aaron Henkin / WYPR)

Daughter and father Marley and Bob Enfield, after a joust. Marley outscored Bob in the final round. (photo credit Aaron Henkin / WYPR)

Remnants of a castle wall still stand at the ruins of Glen Ellen, where William Gilmor III held Maryland's first official jousting tournament in 1840. (photo credit Morgan Hill)

Nature has reclaimed what was once the front lawn of the Gilmor estate, Glen Ellen, on the shore of Loch Raven Reservoir (photo credit Morgan Hill)

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Aaron Henkin

Aaron creates and produces original radio programs and podcasts for WYPR. His current project is The Maryland Curiosity Bureau. Aaron's neighborhood documentary series, Out of the Blocks, earned the 2018 national Edward R Murrow Award. His past work includes the long-running weekly cultural program, The Signal, and the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings series, Tapestry of the Times. Aaron's stories have aired nationally on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

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