It is a Northern Banded Water Snake I am nearly 99% sure. I use to live on the lakke there and that is the most common. When they get bigger some people think they are a copper head( brown with darker brown patches on its back but it does not have the hourglass like a copperhead) but put the two side by side you can see the difference. Just a water snake. Cotton mouths I have yet to see one in this area down east different story. Most of those two species are huge when 2 ft long their body is really thick like your forearm. Don't worry snakes are as scared of you as you are of them.