The highway travels north–south, from the Kings Mountain National Military Park to North Carolina Highway 216 (NC 216) at the North Carolina state line.

SC 216 is a short 1.2-mile (1.9 km) two-lane rural highway in the northeast corner of Cherokee County.

[2] At its southern terminus at the Kings Mountain National Military Park entrance, the road continues east park-maintained towards York County and SC 161.

At the state line, NC 216 continues north towards Interstate 85 and U.S. Route 29 (US 29) south of Kings Mountain.

The first SC 216 existed from 1939 to 1948, starting off as a one-mile (1.6 km) spur of US 21 in Sheldon.