Located on Kings Highway near the intersection of Democrat Road and Cedar Road in Mickleton resides a building chock full of history, the Skyway Apartments.
Originally constructed as a single-family home around the 19th century, it was later renovated into an apartment complex by the mid-20th century, becoming what is now known today by the name of “Skyway”. Recently, the historical Skyway Apartments sadly became the victim of an unforeseen fire.
On June 29, sometime around 4:30 p.m. a fire erupted in the upper level of the apartment’s attic. The owner of the apartments, Kelsey May, said that she and the joint owners of Skyway were not home at the time when the fire broke out.
Neighbors swiftly jumped into action by calling authorities and banging on the door of the apartment building, but luckily there was one tenant home at the time, and nobody was hurt.
The East Greenwich Fire Company and other surrounding companies arrived on scene, quickly racing into action. The East Greenwich Police Department, EMT’s, and the Redcross were on hand to help the displaced tenants.
Displaced by the fire were six total individuals, two single tenants and two couples according to Kelsey.
The blazing sun and fire did not deter first responders, who extinguished the fire in about 30 minutes. They determined that the cause of the fire was the attic’s circulation system shorting out.
Although the fire had been extinguished in the upper attic, each and every room, floor, and the basement suffered severe water damage.
“We are beyond grateful for the incredible bravery, speed and skill of the first responders in ensuring all the residents were out safely,” Kelsey recalls, “[for] stopping the fire and saving this historic building. Their quick action prevented a devastating loss, and we can’t thank them enough. Heroes, every one of them!”
Of the aftermath of the fire and deluge of water, everything seemed to be lost, all but for one thing, hope. Neighbors came by to aid the tenants and owners of Skyway, moving personal belongings like photos and clothing out of the waterlogged home and ordering food, and pizza for them so they wouldn’t go hungry.
Along with the kindly neighbors, the first responders who battled the blaze also pitched in. Showing the importance of generosity, hope had touched Kelsey May’s heart.
Kelsey, in her own words, “After the fire was over, they (first responders) even stayed to assist with removing a few priceless personal items including a dollhouse that my grandfather made for me as a child. What an incredible reminder of all the good people that are out there making our world a better, safer place.”
Former Owners
Before becoming the Skyway Apartments, the original home was a single-family home built in 1858 on 99 acres of land owned by James C. Dawson Sr., an East Greenwich carpenter known for other homes located on Kings Highway. George Craft II was the first to settle down here with his wife (Mary Bassett) and two children (a daughter named Mary Craft, with a son named George Craft III).
The Crafts lived an agricultural life, maintaining personal farmland. After the passing of George II, his son George III inherited the home and continued maintaining the acres of farmland.
Not much else is known of the Craft family, such as what became of them. The home’s many changing owners too are lost to time.
However, once the home was acquired by Amos J. Peaslee in later years, it soon began to shape into what it is now known for today, especially for its historical and practical purpose.
Peaslee made a name for himself for being an active service member of the United States Army in WWI and Navy in WWII, but was also an expert lawyer from New York. In 1924, Peaslee was hired by companies to represent them in a case called Black Tom, a bombing which rocked much of Lower Manhattan and parts of Jersey City on July 30, 1916.
Sometime in 1942, Peaslee bought the deed to what once was the Craft home. In addition to the home’s purchase, Peaslee started to invest large sums of money into the community of East Greenwich.
One notable example of Peaslee’s financial investments was towards The Little Red Schoolhouse, located off of Harmony Road, not even a minute’s drive from the Skyway Apartments.
According to Skyway’s current owners, these financial moves can be correlated to what was the settlement that had been reached through the Black Tom case years prior. Furthermore, his investment towards the residence and community of East Greenwich was to help aid in potential affordable housing during WWII.
The costs of renovating the single-family home into the apartment building wasn’t going to be easy or cheap, but that didn’t stop Peaslee. He began by putting the project in the hands of a well-known architect at the time, Vincent George Kling.
Kling was a notable architect who had worked on large-scale building projects located just across the Delaware River in the city of Philadelphia. As of today, Kling’s architectural wonders still reside within the city to this day. One such example is the small but iconic LOVE Park.
Peaslee started the home’s reconstruction process right after its initial purchase, soon completing several years later. During this period of time, Peaslee did not hold back on any expenses. He proposed the use of Jersey Sandstone as the building’s foundation, while also suggesting that Kling would establish four unique rooms as apartments.
Additionally, each apartment came with numerous individual rooms, a finely detailed fireplace, as well as two doors per apartment – one to enter and exit as tenants pleased, and a second designated as the butler door, connecting to the kitchen.
To commemorate the finalized project, Peaslee decided to give East Greenwich’s new apartment the nickname Skyway, due to his background in the United States military and for a passionate love for aviation. This also coincides with the fact that Peaslee had a hand in founding the Peaslee Airstrip, now privately owned under the name Hollingshead Airport, which is quite visible off of Kings Highway.
If active service, law, and financial ventures within East Greenwich were not enough, Amos J. Peaslee soon found himself in the spotlight of politics with a rather recognizable figure. When Dwight D. Eisenhower was voted into office as the 34th president of the United States, Peaslee was handpicked to serve as ambassador to Australia from 1953 to 1956.
Peaslee would soon die from a battle with an unknown illness in 1956 at his home in Clarksboro.
From historical records, the current homeowners of the Skyway Apartments saw that the building was sold in 1973 to Helen Brown, suggested to have been a close secretary Peaslee had worked with, and her husband, T. E. Brown Jr. The bill of sale suggests the home to have been sold with 1.1 acres.
There isn’t much information on what occurred to the original land between 1942 and 1973, but there is a suggestion that it was divided up amongst future homes and farmlands along Kings Highway at the time.
Historic East Greenwich
In 2016, the Skyway Apartment building was purchased by new owners. Steven Miller, Kitty Miller, Kelsey May (daughter of the Millers), and Michael May (husband to Kelsey) came together to purchase the location under “Mickleton Skyway LLC”. Keeping to Peaslee’s original vision and purpose of the Skyway Apartment, the owners of Mickleton Skyway LLC decided to continue using the apartments for their intended purpose.
To help promote knowledge to the community on the Skyway home and other historical sites within the surrounding community, Kelsey aided in co-founding the East Greenwich Historical Society. When asked about the importance of preserving history through the Skyway residence and the East Greenwich Historical society, Kelsey offered her thoughts on the matter.
“Skyway Apartments is just one of many important historic homes and landmarks in the community. It is the East Greenwich Historical Society’s mission to honor and preserve the history of these properties with our plaque program. They’re such a big part of our town’s story and remind us of the people who built them, the people who lived in them and the people who made our community what it is today.”
The historical plaque project Kelsey speaks about is to help identify the many historical homes and landmarks of the East Greenwich area. These plaques are made to be simple but eye-catching, allowing for onlookers to identify who the original owner of the home was, when the home was originally built, and lastly tagged by East Greenwich Historical Society.
At this time, the East Greenwich Historical society has reached about 50 plaques, and continues to grow at a steady rate. There are still more homes that could be granted a plaque of historical significance, so the historical society is trying its best to reach out to these current homeowners by mail. Homes are defined to be qualified if they are at least 100 years or older.
Back in December 2023, the East Greenwich Historical Society established a historical Christmas tour which allowed guests to visit some sites in the local community. Skyway Apartments were one of the sites guests of this magical tour could take, allowing for people to tour both inside and outside of the historical apartment building, venturing as far as the second and third floor.
When asked about the number of people who participated in the tour, Kelsey estimated that approximately 300 people had visited Skyway during this festive tour. The owners of Skyway wish to present more tours in the future to the public, but due to an unforeseen accident damaging the property, these tours have been put on hold.
For members of the community that wish to give aid towards the Skyway Apartments, or wish to learn more about East Greenwich and the East Greenwich Historical society, there are ways to do so. To help the tenants of Skyway Apartments, Kelsey has arranged a GoFundMe page to raise money in their support. As for potential minds wanting to learn more about East Greenwich and its densely rich history, consider reaching out by email to egnjhistoricsociety@gmail.com or by following “East Greenwich NJ Historical Society” on Facebook to gain insight information on possible historical tours, news, and ways to contribute towards future projects.
By Gerald Philipp
