Hello, I have a small barn in Tipton County and I've always been very curious about why they would have hammered these nails into the joists - they're on every single joist, on one side, spaced evenly apart, and likely would have gone in before the flooring was put down on the second story because of the angle. Any ideas? Pictures included, and thanks in advance!
The usual reason for the location of nails along the joist work in barns and outbuildings is for the purpose of hanging something. I have found these in many barns in similar locations. Unfortunately, we can't usually tell the exact purpose, because whatever was hung from these nails is long gone. Typically, however, these locations were used for drying/storing herbs, bags of onions or potatoes, or other seasonal kitchen garden crops. Depending on the use of the building of course, these locations were also handy for hanging tools, etc., but because you have the nails on all of the joists, and because they are so evenly spaced, my best guess is that they were seasonally used for hanging the same products year after year. If they were more random, such a use would be less likely.
Only guessing, but that's my take.
-Duncan Campbell