The Dream Away is a former farmhouse tucked into the Berkshire woods at the edge of October Mountain State Forest, founded by Mamma Maria Frasca in 1949.
Daniel Osman’s journey with the tavern began long before he bought it in 1997.
“I got to the Berkshire through the theater," he told WAMC. "I was a nearly founding member of Shakespeare & Company and came to work at the then Berkshire Public in 1985. And after a show one night, one of the stagehands said, hey, man, do you want to go to the Dream Away Lodge? And I said to myself, Dream Away Lodge- Yeah, I want to go. So, I first started coming in the 80s, and became a really good friend of Mamma's daughter Tess. And to fast forward those 10 years, when I fell out of the theater and was looking for something to do, I pitched me buying the Dream Away to Tess and that actually happened and hence 26 years of my stewardship of the Dream Away.”
The lodge has an almost mythical reputation in the Berkshires — simultaneously well-known and hidden, it has hosted a motley crew of patrons ranging from the criminal to the legendary.
“It was a speakeasy, and well, rumored to be a speakeasy and a brothel in the late 20s run by Colonel Hayes, a World War One veteran," said Osman. "Bought by Mamma and her daughters in the early 40s, became a musical spot, gypsy sort of hide away, and rumored- The brothel rumors continued, let's just say. And then Arlo [Guthrie] brought Bob Dylan and the Rolling Thunder tour to the Dream Away in 1975. That event was filmed, but I've always said it's sort of like, George Washington slept here. If Bob Dylan's been filmed in your house, then then 30 years later, you'll have people who come in and say, can we sit at the table that Dylan sat at?”
In a county dependent on a tourism economy, the Dream Away managed to carve out a niche as both a beacon to guests and a haunt for locals. From its famous holiday parties to the constant stream of musicians performing in the living room, the lodge offered a magical getaway in one of the Berkshires’ more remote corners.
“Every community has a Starbucks and McDonald's and a 99," said Osman. "But how many communities have a Tanglewood or a Jacob's Pillow or a Red Lion Inn or Dream Away Lodge or a Bascom Lodge? The Berkshires are very, very lucky that we have a bunch of things that actually connect us to our past and I just didn't want to see another one of them go down.”
After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Osman – who turns 65 in January – decided it was time to move on. An attempt to sell the property to a developer who envisioned creating a luxury camping facility on the site proved controversial in Becket.
“I listed the house, I showed it 40 times in two months, I signed what I still think was a really brilliant deal and a really great use of the lodge and the space," said Osman. "And other people didn't think it was a great deal and stonewalled that situation till it died. That put me in a complicated position.”
After the campsite plan was officially scuttled in June, Osman found a new group of owners to pass on the Dream Away to: the consortium of Scott Levy, Sheryl Victor Levy, Daniel Giddings and April Wilson.
“I know that they love the house the way that it is, I know they want to preserve its character and it's sort of tchotchke integrity," he told WAMC. "I know that the music program is really important to them. I've heard from so many musicians who are so excited that the Dream Away is coming back.”
Patrons of the Dream Away are well acquainted with not just Osman’s presence in the lodge, but his furry associates who have played key roles in both hospitality and pest control. While Osman and company will remain involved in the Dream Away, he’s not sure what their role will be on a day-to-day basis under the new ownership.
“At the moment Patterson and Sam Shepard and I are all still in residence on the mountain," he told WAMC. "I’m trying to convince them that you need a cat in a restaurant in the middle of the forest, or else you have something that you don't want in the middle of the forest, which is mice. So I don't really know yet. You're the third person in two days to ask me if there will still be a dog in the dining room. And by the way, the dog was never in the dining room. He was in the bar and the music room in the porch, just to be clear.”
By way of disclosure, the Dream Away Lodge has been a WAMC underwriter. It is set to reopen this spring.
