Acme has always been an agricultural community; however, three attempts to develop resorts in the area have likely been inspired by its gateway position along the edge of the Laurel Highlands.

[1] Berndtson, an original apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright, designed a network of twenty-four private houses, each within a 300-foot (91 m) diameter clearing in the woods.

Forty-two years later, local homebuilder Thomas D. Papinchak deconstructed the Donald C. Duncan House in Lisle, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago) and relocated it to the Acme property.

[4] The development in a section of forest originally known as Southerwood, along the western descent of Chestnut Ridge, featured over 1000 house lots in a wooded setting connected by 22 miles of roads.

Codes prevented the cutting of more trees than necessary for home construction, unconnected buildings, business restrictions, prohibitions on brick and metal siding and similar provisions intended to maintain the rural character of the development.

While the rustic character of the development is still very evident, it has suffered somewhat in recent years as the Bear Rocks codes have been increasingly ignored, including the clear-cutting of lots, and some logging operations.

[5] Following in the footsteps of the very successful Bear Rocks, this much smaller resort featured a recreational lake, a spring fed swimming pool, and wooded house lots.

In 1990, a local real estate investor purchased the tract consisting of the entire impoundment of Forest Lake, along with the encompassing 56 choice acres of original resort property that spans the eastern edge of Bear Rocks.