It runs from the South Carolina state line to U.S. Route 74 (US 74) entirely in Anson County.

A two-lane rural highway, it traverses 13.6 miles (21.9 km), starting at the South Carolina state line, going through the town of Morven where it intersects US 52, and ending at US 74 just north of Pee Dee community.

Around 1947, NC 85 was realigned onto new road, bypassing the Cairo community.

[3] North Carolina Highway 802 (NC 802) was established as a new primary routing in either 1929 or 1930 as an auxiliary route of NC 80 (today's US 52) in Morven.

In 1937, both North and South Carolina agreed to renumber NC 802 and SC 95 to 85.