Located in the east central portion of the state, GA 199 runs southeast from Dublin to U.S. 221 north of Mount Vernon. The entire route parallels and runs near to the Oconee River. Additionally, the route is 26.8 miles long passing through Treutlen and Laurens Counties.

GA 199 also includes one banner route, 3.6 mile GA 199 Spur. GA 199 Spur exists entirely as a highway to the tomb of George Michael Troup (1780-1856), a notable governor in the state's history buried at on one of his many plantations.  In terms of Georgia history, he had been legislator, congressman, served two terms as a U.S. senator and also a two-term Governor of the state.  He became famous for his message in 1825 to the President when the Government had not lived up to its agreement to remove the Indians from Georgia. Interestingly enough, the actual tomb is on C.R. 118 to the "west" of the end of 199 Spur.

Designated in the 1940's originally as projected mileage, GA 199 was designated originally as a spur to Troup's Tomb. The present route of GA 199 Spur was indeed the original GA 199. Mostly paved in the early 1950's and fully paved by the early 1960's, the total distance of the spur was 4.5 miles including the 0.9 miles of current GA 199 to the Lothair community at the present-day intersection of 199 and 199 Spur.

As the route had originally existed as a means for visitors to view the gravesite and former plantation of a deceased antebellum Georgia governor via a state-maintained route, the route grew over time to become a bona fide connecting highway that functioned as more than a monument to a largely forgotten figure in state history.  By the early 1960's, the route was extended south of where it originally started at GA 46 to its current southern terminus at U.S. 221 north of Mount Vernon.  Later, the route was eventually extended towards Dublin.

At first, the northernmost portion of the route was added only, making two disconnected sections of GA 199's with the northern route extending from newly opened I-16 to Dublin in 1965. Later, the county-maintained portion inbetween finally became GA 199 in 1967, making GA 199 a single and continuous route at last. This is the same route that exists today. When the two GA 199 routes were joined, the spur to Troup's Tomb was changed to GA 199 Spur as the route no longer could support the relocated mainline GA 199 without duplicating routes. No changes have been made to either route since that time.