The waters of Charleston Harbor have been the site of many significant events in the history of the city, and we spent the first part of our third day in Charleston soaking up some of that history with a trip to Fort Sumter, the site of the first shots of the Civil War.

After scarfing down a couple of doughnuts we picked up at a Krispy Kreme the previous night, we set out for the Aquarium Wharf in downtown Charleston, where our ferry to Fort Sumter was to depart. Though it was only 8:30 in the morning when we left, we could feel the heat and humidity bearing down on us the instant we stepped outside the hotel. It would be another scorcher, though this was a little more tolerable than yesterday. We were, however, blessed with beautiful blue skies all day long.

A 35-minute boat ride ferried us from Charleston to Fort Sumter, a pentagon structure with low walls that perched on top of a rocky sandbar. The inside of the fort contained two levels. On the ground level laid a ring of cannons along the outer wall. Much of the fort’s internal walls laid in ruins. The second level contained a black structure that housed a museum (thankfully air conditioned) and a gift shop where you can buy copies of the Emancipation Proclamation for less than $3. Above the structure, at the back of the fort, laid a grassy noll that looked out over the ocean. At the center of the grassy noll, five flags fluttered high above the fort, whose American flag in 1861 became a popular patriotic symbol after Major Robert Anderson, the Union commander who commanded the fort, returned to the North with it after being forced to surrender Fort Sumter in the first battle of the Civil War. After Union forces regained control of the fort in February 1865, they commemorated the occasion with a flag-raising ceremony, at which point the stars and stripes rescued by Anderson was again hoisted high atop the fort.

After our ferry returned from Fort Sumter, we took a lunch break at Saffron’s Cafe & Bakery, a deli in a pink building off East Bay Street that was serving a sumptuous brunch buffet (it was the first time I saw snowcrab legs in a deli). We weren’t hungry enough for the buffet, though, and opted for the kiwi salad, spinach pie, and she-crab soup, all of which were excellent.

We then walked back to the Aquarium Wharf to visit the South Carolina Aquarium, where, surprisingly, there was a long line. The aquarium was divided into various sections according the different ecosystems in South Carolina (coastal waters, mountain, etc.). Some of the highlights included a penguins exhibit (though South Carolina is hardly the natural habitat for penguins) and a tank with four sea turtles. Of course, there are also your standard aquarium attractions: a big shark tank with gigantic fish, a petting zoo area with horseshoe crabs and starfish, and various tanks of small, colorful fish that could’ve come from your saltwater tank at home.

After spending a couple hours in the aquarium, we took a 20-minute stroll over to the Aiken-Rhett House, one of the historic properties in Charleston. The pastel yellow house, built in 1818 by Governor William Aiken, has survived virtually unaltered since 1858. We were very glad for one alteration that has been made — air conditioning in the ticket office and gift shop in the basement. It was welcomed relief after our walk under the sweltering afternoon sun.

Visitors to the house are led on an audio tour. We each received an MP3 player and headsets and set off exploring the interior of the house. Much has been preserved, including stretches of wallpaper in some of the rooms. Our tour included a stop on the second floor of the main house, which contained a row of small, cramped rooms that served as slave quarters, and these were rooms for the privileged, skilled slaves.

The back of the main house opened up to a courtyard that led to what used to be the front gates of the property. At each far corner of the courtyard stood a privy, and it brought a smirk to our faces when we pictured the former residents of the house dashing out from the main house and across the courtyard every time when nature called.

By the time we finished the house tour, it was after 4 p.m., and we had to get back to the hotel to prepare for our dinner date. Today being our first anniversary, I surprised Courtney with reservations for a dinner cruise around Charelston Harbor. We boarded our boat at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant and set off into the harbor with a setting sun casting its last rays on our faces as we peered out from our table by the window. Another half hour or so, and we were making our way around the harbor while the sun had retracted its fiery blazes and dimmed the light on the evening sky. As our ship cleared the shipyards, the Battery, which was our first stop in Charleston two days ago, came into view. We had seen all those colorful old houses up close on Friday afternoon, and now we got to see them all in one frame.

At the front of the dining room, a blues trio began to play. Meanwhile, the staff started bringing out our food. We kicked off with good bread and some very soft and sweet butter, followed by she-crab soup (our third helping on this trip, and every one of them was good). Between the salad and the entrees — shrimp and grits for me and crab cakes for Courtney — the sun sank below the distant horizon, and the sky quickly grew dark. Around the ship, pelicans glided and dolphins frolicked, giving hints of their presence by occasionally poking their dorsal fin out of the waves. We made several trips up to the observation deck throughout dinner to take in the view and got some amazing views of the Charleston shoreline against the backdrop of the dusk sky.

After dinner, followed by an adventure on the dance floor to “Stand By Me”, we again went outside the dining room to take in the view and soak up the ocean breeze. By now, the sky was completely dark, and the ship was on its way back to the dock. Along the way, it made a loop around the Arthur Ravenel Bridge, the largest cable-stayed bridge in America that linked Charleston to Mount Pleasant. We had driven over this bridge on our way to the dinner cruise boarding point, and now we got a view of it from below as it was now enveloped in the soft glow of night lights. In the distance, heat lightning started to break out, lighting up patches of the sky with flashing tints of red. It was a very different view of Charleston Harbor, and a perfect way to cap our final night in the Holy City.