Primarily in the High Country, it runs from the Tennessee state line near Trade east to NC 18 in Laurel Springs.

If travelers continue south on NC 18, for two miles (3.2 km), they will reach the Blue Ridge Parkway.

NC 88 makes up the second section of the byway (14 miles (23 km)), between Jefferson and Laurel Springs.

It is noted for several of the state parks that surround the route and the community of Ore Knob, charted in 1875 and named from the only copper mine that existed in North Carolina.

The highway was extended in 1940 replacing NC 16 west of Jefferson to the Tennessee state line.