More likely a brown water snake.
Cottonmouth’s most northerly range is southern VA.
As a kid, I used to go to Coles Point VA in the summer and they had a long pontoon bridge over an awesome swamp.
I’d ride my bike over it and the bridge would sink a foot into the murky water and snakes would swim past my feet.
Morons camping there kept slaughtering the harmless brown water snakes, thinking they were Cottons.
That may be where I developed a loathing for snake cruelty.
> More likely a brown water snake.
Nope, my dad killed it and brought it with us to the emergency room where they identified it as a moccasin. Plus, it think the 2 big fangs that broke off in my hand could only come from a venomous viper.