Drosopigi (Greek: Δροσοπηγή, before 1928: Μπελκαμένη – Belkameni;[2] Albanian: Bellkamen;[3] Aromanian: Belkamen; from the Slavic: Bel Kamen, meaning "White Rock") is a village in Macedonia, Greece.
[4] Drosopigi lies on eastward slope of Mount Bitsi at an elevation of 1050 meters approximately 13 km from Florina.
[3] Migrants from Belkameni and Negovani in Brăila founded a society (1904) named Djalëria (The Youth) and it was financed by Romanian Prince Albert Ghica.
Belkameni participated extensively on the Greek side of the Macedonian Struggle in the late Ottoman period.
[12] Following the Young Turk Revolution (1909), the Greek clergy's prominent position in places like Belkameni was contested by Aromanian and Albanian nationalists.
The sun only hit the village a certain time of day, which made the production of prosperous crops a tremendous challenge.
During the late 19th century, many men from the village went to the Kingdom of Romania to work, make money, and bring it back with them.
As many other men did, Nikolaos Manou and Vasilios Dedes worked in Romania, were very prosperous, and sent great amounts of money back to the village for their families.
On April 3, 1944[15] the Germans sent a routine Wehrmacht patrol to the surrounding area of Drosopigi, outside the village itself.
It was at this time that a final decision was made to build a new village at the current location of Drosopigi.
Also constant conflict was going on in the mountains around Skopia between the two factions of the civil war and morale in Greece was low.
On the partisan side, seven died including Anastasios Styliades (Αναστάσιος Στυλιαδης), Antonis Zikos (Αντώνης Ζηκος), two brothers of the Nastou family (Δύο άδελφοί Νάστου), and Sotirios Theodorou (Σωτηριος Θεοδώρου).
From the time new Drosopigi was built (1951/1952) the people worked hard to make it aesthetically pleasing, but would not reach the look of the old village.
Individuals and families who emigrated from Drosopigi mostly went to the United States, Canada, West Germany, and Australia in search of a new life.
At present, the city of Rochester, New York has the largest concentration of immigrants and families that trace their roots to Drosopigi.
In addition, the members supported relatives and friends back home in Drosopigi through financial help and other types of aid.
Presently, the society is active and hosts many special occasions such as the Holy Trinity, one of the most important traditions held by the Drospigiotes.
They have assisted in successfully rebuilding Drosopigi in Greece and still send aid to help the village in many projects.
The society also helps in many projects here in America such as contributing to the addition of new mosaics in the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in Rochester New York.
Today the Society is led by Δημητρη Καρρα (Dimitri Karras) and many other elected officials.