It is signed as a north–south highway, though it travels in a southwesterly–northeasterly direction, from Watts Mills to the North Carolina state line in Lake Wylie.

[6] The portion in South Carolina runs 79+1⁄2 miles (127.9 km) from Watts Mills to Lake Wylie.

[7] Established in 1937 as a renumbering of SC 163, it traveled from U.S. Route 321 (US 321) in York to the North Carolina state line in Lake Wylie.

[8] One previous SC 49 existed from around 1927–1935, from Myrtle Beach to the North Carolina state line in Little River.

The first 0.760 miles (1.223 km) of the highway travels along the two-lane Industrial Park Road, concurrent with the unsigned designation of SC 496.