While grassland restorations have gained recent popularity throughout the United States, few restorations have been initiated on the highly weathered soils of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts of prescribed burning on the soil chemistry of a young grassland restoration established on agricultural fields in eastern Maryland. The soil is a slightly acidic highly weathered Typic Hapludult with a sandy loam surface texture and low cation exchange capacity (CEC). In Spring 2004, soil was collected in five intervals to a depth of 20 cm 1 yr after a first-time prescribed burn to compare to pre-burn samples and samples collected 11 d after the burn. The significant increase in soil pH in all depth intervals observed just after the burn (at 11 d) dissipated by 1 yr after the burn. In addition, soil organic matter, as measured by Loss-on-Ignition, did not differ from pre-burn conditions 1 yr after the burn. Relationships of exchangeable Ca and Mg with organic matter also differed 1 yr after the burn, as compared to 11 d. Results indicate that the infiltration and dissolution of base-cation-rich, alkaline ash from several days of rain after the burn significantly changed the soil chemistry within a few weeks after burning, but dissipated within a year due to long-term buffering of the soils.