Soils were classified in riparian bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) woodlands in the foothills of the Black Hills, South Dakota. The soils in these gallery forests represented a blending of grassland (Mollisol) soils and forested (Alfisol) soils. Four soillandscape units were identified: (i) relatively young soils on steep slopes (usually Ustochrepts); (ii) soils adjacent to stream channels that were subject to episodic flooding and burial by new layers of alluvium or colluvium (Fluventic Mollisols); (iii) low relief, concave surfaces on stable floodplains away from stream channels (Cumulic Mollisols); (iv) Alfisols and Mollisols with argillic horizons on stable surfaces up off the floodplain. The actual taxonomic classification of similar pedons was often quite different, reflecting changes over time in the overstory and understory. In general, soil types and vegetative communities were poorly correlated. Soil pedons may provide a glimpse of history that helps us to understand past processes in formation, but this knowledge may not be very useful in understanding current plant distribution patterns.