Nitrogen deposition in the northeastern US changed N availability in the latter part of the twentieth century, with potential legacy effects. However, long-term N cycle measurements are scarce. N isotopes in tree rings have been used as an indicator of N availability through time, but there is little verification of whether species differ in the strength of this signal. Using long-term records at the Fernow Experimental Forest in West Virginia, we examined the relationship between soil conditions, including net nitrification rates, and wood delta.sup.15N in 2014, and tested the strength of correlation between tree ring delta.sup.15N of four species and stream water NO.sub.3.sup.- loss from 1971 to 2000. Higher soil NO.sub.3.sup.- was weakly associated with higher wood delta.sup.15N across species, and higher soil net nitrification rates were associated with higher delta.sup.15N for Quercus rubra only. The delta.sup.15N of Liriodendron tulipifera and Q. rubra, but neither Fagus grandifolia nor Prunus serotina, was correlated with stream water NO.sub.3.sup.-. L. tulipifera tree ring delta.sup.15N had a stronger association with stream water NO.sub.3.sup.- than Q. rubra. Overall, we found only limited evidence of a relationship between soil N cycling and tree ring delta.sup.15N, with a strong correlation between the wood delta.sup.15N and NO.sub.3.sup.- leaching loss through time for one of four species. Tree species differ in their ability to preserve legacies of N cycling in tree ring delta.sup.15N, and given the weak relationships between contemporary wood delta.sup.15N and soil N cycle measurements, caution is warranted when using wood delta.sup.15N to infer changes in the N cycle.