Its name is believed to have been derived from the tearing of the coats of British soldiers by low-hanging branches as they forded the stream during either the French and Indian or the American Revolutionary Wars.
Tearcoat Creek is popular with whitewater rafters who frequent the 3.9-mile (6.3 km) stretch of stream between the Northwestern Turnpike (U.S. Route 50) at Pleasant Dale and its mouth on the North River.
The stream's source lies near Ruckman where it flows northeast along the western flanks of Short Mountain (2,864 feet) parallel to Augusta-Ford Hill Road (CR 7).
Through this stretch south of Augusta, Tearcoat merges with a number of smaller cattle watering streams increasing it in size.
Shortly after its confluence with Bearwallow Creek, it passes under the US 50 bridge at Pleasant Dale continuing northeast through another winding forested gorge.