To me, the drive to the village from the Dragon was nearly as fun as the Dragon itself.
Going to a less rural area wouldn't appeal to me. The seclusion as mentioned was very nice and the scenic curvey roads you have to take to get to the Gap were more leisure then anything else.
I really enjoyed the place and the event where it happened this year. To me, complaints about distant driven from people who live less then three hours away is moot. I drove 8+ hours just to do the event plus see the Gap and the roads around it. I don't want to be stuck in some city battling moron's in in traffic with their Camry's to go shoot the gap
My personal vote would be for Natahala. Beautiful scenery, beautiful cabins, great food and good people!