The highway traverses where the Battle of Averasborough took place and connects the towns of Erwin, Godwin and Falcon.

Though the road is signed as east and west, it runs physically north from Erwin to US 13 to the south near Cooper.

Traveling south through Erwin on 13th Street, it splits from NC 217 and parallels the Cape Fear River towards Godwin.

Halfway between Erwin and Godwin is the Averasborough Battlefield Museum, at the site of a noted Civil War battle that happened on March 16, 1865.

Going in a southerly direction, in parallel of the South River to its east, it heads towards US 13; near its eastern terminus it makes a sharp bend onto Herb Farm Road, avoiding a section of road where a bridge once existed crossing over the South River and into Sampson County.