A bell rang 13 times. Thirteen county officials each read a portion of the Declaration of Independence, one for each original colony. And with that, Morris County opened a free exhibit tracing more than 270 years of its legal history inside the historic Morristown courthouse — launched Wednesday as about 70 people gathered on the courthouse lawn for the reading.

The courthouse, built in 1827, turns 200 next year. It's Morris County's third courthouse, following a 1755 log structure and a second building from 1770. The current Federal-style building was designed by architect Lewis Carter, built for $20,000, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

One of the exhibit's centerpiece stories: the 1779-1780 court-martial of Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold, held at a Morristown tavern during the Continental Army's brutal second winter encampment. Arnold faced 13 charges, including misusing government property, and was acquitted of all but one — but General Washington's formal reprimand afterward left him bitter, a resentment historians say helped set the stage for his eventual treason.

The exhibit also covers the 1887 blasphemy trial of Charles B. Reynolds, one of New Jersey's earliest free-speech and religious-liberty cases, argued by famed orator and Civil War veteran Robert G. Ingersoll.

The self-guided exhibit spans the courthouse at 56 Washington St. and the adjoining Administration and Records Building at 10 Court St., connected by an enclosed pedestrian bridge. Visitors move through historic photographs, artifacts, digital displays and interpretive panels, and can step inside the preserved second-floor courtroom — still in continuous use after nearly 200 years.

Commissioner Director Stephen H. Shaw called the launch event "a unique opportunity to stand together and commemorate one of the defining moments in our nation's history," joined by Assignment Judge Stuart A. Minkowitz, Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll, Sheriff James M. Gannon, County Clerk Ann F. Grossi and Surrogate Heather J. Darling.

The exhibit is free, open weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with no set end date. Visitors needing accessible entry should notify a sheriff's officer upon arrival. As a keepsake, visitors can grab a free pocket pamphlet of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, courtesy of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation. The county's America 250th programming continues Tuesday with a screening of "Drive By History: The Worst Winter of the Revolution" at the Morris Museum.