The medium- to long-term impacts of forest restoration models on soil properties are not well documented in the Atlantic Forest biome, especially in a seasonally dry climate. We assessed patterns of topsoil fertility, soil organic carbon (SOC) storage, and isotopic signatures of 13C in gradient with three areas with natural regeneration of native forest (NF) with 50 years of old, two areas with monocultures of N2-fixer and non-N2-fixer tree species, six years after planting on grass pasture, and one area with grass pasture in the last 40 years of age. In each area, three to nine composite soil samples were collected at 0-20 cm soil depth during the rainy season for analysis. The topsoil of the NF regenerated after coffee was the most depleted soil fertility and SOC storage in our vegetation gradient. The grass pasture and forest plantations showed smaller soil acidity and a larger base concentrations than the NF areas. The SOC storage was larger in NF after grass pasture and selective cutting, followed by grass pasture, with 80, 76, and 69 Mg ha-1, respectively. The planting of legume trees decreased SOC storage by approximately 35% during SOC storage, independent of N2-fixing capacity. The SOC derived from trees increased rapidly in the first six years of tree plantation (≈ 3 Mg SOC ha-1 year-1). The recovery of soil fertility and SOC storage by long-term natural regeneration differs according to historical land use. Differences in N2-fixation capacity had little effect on soil properties in the medium term.