Ned,
 
A good starting point is the work by Amy Young (Univ. of Tenn.).  She
published two articles:
 
1994    "Nailing Down The Pattern." Tennessee Anthropologist 19(1,
Spring):1-21.
 
1994    "Spatial Patterning on a Nineteenth-Century Appalachian Houselot:
Evidence from Nail Analysis." Southeastern Archaeology 13(1, Summer):56-63.
 
Also, for a more contextual approach (for 19th century sites), revisit
Thoreau's Walden, reading its nail counts, etc. as a reaction against
Andrew Jackson Downing's architectural pattern books that specified lumber
amount and nail counts for particular buildings.
 
David.
 
David S. Rotenstein, Ph.D.
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