Orange County farm owner faces ALE charges after thousands attend party

The owner of an agritourism venue in rural Cedar Grove has been charged with allowing underage drinking at a party last weekend that drew over 2,500 people, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office reported Friday.

Dwight B. Poole, 60, the owner of Smokehouse Valley Farm, faces six counts of aiding and abetting people under the age of 21 to consume alcohol at the party on his property the night of May 2, the Sheriff’s Office stated in a news release.

“Attendees parked along both sides of the road, blocking the flow of traffic,” Sheriff Charles Blackwood said in the release. “They obstructed driveways, left automobiles in the yards of neighboring property owners, and intoxicated individuals wandered between vehicles snarled in traffic.”

Some partygoers were underage, some drove home impaired, and some were so drunk they passed out along the road, the sheriff said.

The incident comes as neighbors in the Bahama community in northern Durham County have complained about Duke student parties in their rural community, The News & Observer recently reported.

The Orange County party took place off Mill Creek Road in the unincorporated Cedar Grove area north of Hillsborough.

Emergency dispatch operators got about 75 calls about the party within six hours, the Sheriff’s Office said. They accounted for one-third of the total 911 calls in Orange County during those hours, including calls for Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and Carrboro police, EMS units, and the fire services.

More than 25 law enforcement officers from multiple agencies responded, including N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement, which served warrants on Poole on Wednesday, the release stated. Emergency personnel took several people to local hospitals.

“In my opinion, this gathering was of such a size and scope that the overall risk to attendees, community residents, and first responders was alarmingly high,” Blackwood said.

Reached by phone Friday afternoon, Poole said he did not understand why he’s been charged when someone else was responsible for the party.

“If I lease my farm out to another person, why am I the person charged and not the lessee?” he asked.

He said he had no further comment but would have more to say about the incident in the coming week.

The magistrate has ordered Poole to appear in court on May 29.

Fatal shooting at the venue in 2018

In 2018, Smokehouse Valley Farm was the site of a fatal shooting, when a high school senior was shot after a fight broke out at a Halloween party, The News & Observer previously reported.

The student, 18-year-old Rashiaya Melton, was an “innocent bystander” who did not know her shooter, Blackwood said at the time.

She died at UNC Hospitals the next day, and two men were charged with first-degree murder in her death.

An estimated 300 people were at that party, which had dropped by half by the time of the shooting, The N&O reported. A second person, who was shot in the leg, was treated at the hospital and released, The N&O reported.

Poole was charged then with two counts of aiding and abetting people under 21 to consume alcohol at that party, charges that the District Attorney’s Office later dismissed, Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Alicia Stemper said Friday.

This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Orange County farm owner faces ALE charges after thousands attend party."