Edit: modified per our conversation.
First to answer your question: New Jersey was the third state to join the Union. I should know, I grew up across the Delaware from there in Pennsylvania (the second state).
I've been working with Apache and other web servers, including Nginx, for over 20 years now. I can work my around http config files in my sleep. Setting up new modules is a breeze and will take no time at all. Tightening ssh, and getting your developers to use ssh keys, is also similarly easy to do.
As for cleaning up what you're doing and coming up with a better way, I can set up an entire chef install for you in no time. This will give you far more flexibility in handling your deployments going forward than what plesk offers.