A water stop on the Greenville and Columbia Railroad in the 1850s developed into a town whose name origin is uncertain. Honea Path may be misnamed for William Honey, an early landowner and trader, or it may be double-named by Cherokee Indians, with “Honea” being an Indian name for “path” according to folklore. When the town was chartered in 1885, it was referred to as Honey Path in three different places, and early wills and deeds also bear the Honey Path name. However, in 1917 the town was incorporated under the name Honea Path and it has gone by that name ever since.