LAKE HELEN, Fla. – Before cars and giant delivery systems were ever thought of, Lake Helen got their mail through a horse and wagon made possible by Albert Suber.

A Black man who gained his freedom from the cruelty of slavery and became the first-ever postman for the small town. Commonly known as Uncle Suber, he would travel all over Volusia County to make sure people got their mail.

“So, what started out as a little square turned into all of this,” explained Vernon Burton, a former Lake Helen City Commissioner.

Burton can tell you all about the history of Lake Helen.

This Black History Month, he is making sure one of their most important stories continues to live on.

Suber's work delivering mail ultimately helped Lake Helen become an official city in 1888. 

“This is where he was the pastor,” pointed out Burton as he drove News 13 around the four-mile square town. “I think this church is something like 130 years old.”

Uncle Suber has been gone for over a century, but his legacy in the small community can still be felt.

Before he died, what little property he had left, was donated to be a final resting place for Blacks in Lake Helen that were forbidden from being buried next to their white neighbors. 

“I got a lot of relatives over here,” said Burton while entering Suber Memorial, the cemetery named after the influential figure.

Not only did racism and segregation laws remain in place even after death, but in the 1960s, Suber Memorial was forever separated from Lake Helen when I-4 was built.

For years, vandals would trespass on the cemetery and damage the property.

“What they would do, they would come out here and they would ride through the cemetery. They would knock over the the the headstones.”

A gate has since been put up, but the memorial is ducked off at the end of a long dirt road and remains outside of the Lake Helen District.

“So what we do is we come and we would paint the vault,” explained Burton.

Even in 2022, funerals are still held at Suber Memorial.

As time passed, Uncle Suber's location in the graveyard was lost, but his contributions will always live on. 

Burton and a few of his neighbors want to find where he's located and honor him with a brand new headstone by this Memorial Day.