Coulda been that. I suppose a Copperhead is another possibility. Arlington appears to be in their normal range whereas it’s too far north for Moccasins.
Coppers look nothing like Cottons.
If the onlookers were screaming Cotton, it was a water snake.
:)
My dad was a snake-o-phobe without equal.
He stocked the pond above me with bluegills, sunnies and catfish, and naturally, the water snakes came to feast.
One day, after a heavy rain, the pond overflowed into the dry run beside my lane and a water snake was displaced by the overflow.
I knew dad would be down from the ridge at any moment, so I spent 15 minutes, nonchalantly escorting the snake [and encouraging haste] down the stream until it reach the confluence at the end of the lane and made it to the culvert which went to the lake across the road.
A minute later, dad drove up and asked why I was standing in the road, for no apparent reason.
:)