The Toolesboro site consists of seven burial mounds on a bluff overlooking the Iowa River near where it joins the Mississippi River. The conical mounds were constructed between 200 B.C. and 300 A.D. by a local Hopewell group. They include some of the best-preserved and accessible remnants of Iowa’s Hopewell culture, a Middle Woodland people who hunted, gathered and gardened. At one time, there may have been as many as twelve mounds, but subsequent settlement and excavation have reduced that number to the present seven. As of yet, no village site near the Toolesboro mounds has been located, which is attributed to the shifting path of the Iowa River which has obliterated possible village sites on the flood plain over the last 2,000 years.

Of the seven mounds, only two are visible on the grounds of the Educational Center. The rest are off in the woods, and are separated by a wire fence from the Educational Center. One of the mounds maintained near the center, known as Mound 2, is the largest of the remaining mounds, measuring 100 feet in diameter and eight feet in height. This mound was possibly the largest Hopewell mound in Iowa.

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