A mysterious red granite bench, estimated to weigh 800 pounds, was placed in a Cambridge park Sunday morning, baffling joggers, residents and city officials alike.

"Everybody was surprised how it got there," Cambridge Police Det. Frank T. Pasquarello said yesterday.

A substantive excerpt from Virginia Woolf's novel "Orlando" is inscribed on the bench, which mentions both the author and title of the work, but not the bench's donor or for whom the bench was created.

The granite monument is set in a raised clearing at the tip of the Fresh Pond Reservation in north Cambridge, next to the Fresh Pond Reservoir and near the intersection of Fresh Pond Parkway and Huron Avenue.

The city's Water Department, which owns the park, announced yesterday that City Manager Robert W. Healy had decided to allow the bench to remain. The story was first reported in yesterday's Boston Globe.

Called "The Pines" by locals, the clearing is frequently crossed by joggers and bicyclists.

The bench was discovered Tuesday morning by police officers chasing after a man who reportedly exposed himself to a female passer-by in the park, according to Pasquarello.

Cambridge police then notified the water board, he said.

According to Michael A. Nicoloro, the Water Department's managing director, Donna Turley, an East Cambridge lawyer, called the water board yesterday morning saying she represented the donor of the bench.

"She let me know that [the donor] had delivered the bench and that it wasn't stolen or anything of that nature," Nicoloro said.

By noon, Healy and the Water Department had decided to accept the enigmatic gift.

"It was a beautiful gesture on the part of the donor. We of the city of Cambridge--Bob Healy and the Cambridge Water Department--we collectively accept the gift and we will do everything in our power to preserve it where it resides," Nicoloro said in a public statement yesterday.

Donor Anonymous

Turley refused to identify the owner or offer any commentary on the donor's motivations at a press conference yesterday.

Nicoloro said that Turley told him the bench was delivered early Sunday morning on a cart, and that she identified the material as red Indian granite.